Social media platforms now offer meaningful alternatives to diary based research. In this presentation we show you how to use Tumblr to conduct diary research online and some of the pitfalls to look out for.

1. Using Tumblr to conduct
diary based research
www.bedrockinsight.com.au

2. Digital technology is now so ubiquitous that it
offers meaningful alternatives to diary based
research
Source: Nielsen Report: The Australian Online Consumer Landscape 2012
of Australians aged 16 years and
above can be classified as an active online user
(i.e. has used the internet in the past month).
have some sort of home internet connection
use the internet daily
They spend a weekly average
of online
use it multiple times a day
Of these:

3. Familiarity with blogging and social media makes
running diary studies on available blogging platforms
simple and straightforward to respondents
1. Facebook – 13,200,000 users (according to Ad tool)
2. YouTube – 12,700,000 UAVs
3. WordPress.com – 6,150,000
4. Tumblr – 4,800,000
5. LinkedIn – 3,500,000
6. Blogspot – 2,800,000
All figures represent the number of Unique Australian Visitors [UAVs] to that website over the monthly period unless otherwise stated).
Source: http://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-statistics-australia-april-2014/

4. Social media platforms offer several
different options. Two we like:
• Tumblr – private diaries in the form of a blog.
Respondents each have their own account, where they
post their entries. (Private if constructed that way, or a
shared diary for collaborative learnings)
• Facebook groups – collaborative diaries and shared
experiences. Allows researchers to use group effect to
optimise learnings (Shared)

5. The ability to easily add
media (like photos and
video) and website links
to a digital platform
allows the content to be
lively, inspiring and
compelling.
The flexibility of digital platforms allows for
rich and compelling content in the diaries
Copyright: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/profile_eevl'>eevl / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

6. • Learnings are timely and continuous, and can be built on
through the length of the study.
• Because you can interact within the online space, new areas
of investigation can be explored and depth around particular
issues can be probed.
• A big advantage is that respondent compliance can be
monitored in real time
Using digital instead of traditional diaries
allows real time monitoring and learning

7. As with normal diaries, it is still important to
over-recruit
Although compliance can be monitored in real
time and you can see if people are not
participating properly and take action to remedy it
– it is still worth over recruiting right from the start
of the study. An additional two or three
respondents will help if some of the original
respondents are unable (or unwilling) to
contribute later in the study.

8. As with normal diaries, it is important to
explain how to fill the diaries in and what sort
of information to add
Even when giving clear written instructions, a
voice call prior to the diary to talk it through with
the respondents is essential.
People don’t always read the instructions, and
even when they do they can miss important bits of
information!
Keep instructions clear and simple.

9. Track progress and learnings from the diaries on an ongoing
basis by transferring the diary entries into a separate power
point file.
We simply grabbed screen shots and pasted them into each
respondent’s off line diary.
This also means you are analysing as you go, rather than at
the end, shortening the overall process.
Track progress and learnings by creating off-
line copies

10. So, how do you create research diaries
using tumblr?

11. Start off by creating a new email address
for each respondent
• Create a for each respondent
conducting the diary.
• You can use an online provider like hotmail, yahoo or google
• Create simple, but content non-specific email address like resp343
• The email address will be the login address for the tumblr account.
• For privacy reasons, don’t use the name of your respondents!

12. Because we wanted each respondent to fill in their own diary, each
respondent was given their own Tumblr account.
By creating specific email addresses and tumblr accounts, you maintain
control over the diaries, and are able to access them yourself to review
inputs and post additional questions
Use the email addresses
you’ve created to set up a
different Tumblr account for
each respondent. This
becomes their login.
Keep a good record of
emails, associated
Tumblr accounts and
passwords in a
separate spreadsheet.
Has no use later on –
make it the same as
the email address
Use the email address to create a new
tumblr account for each respondent

13. Tumblr blogs are automatically public. You need to
create a second private blog if you don’t want the
diaries to be in the public domain
Click here to create a
new blog.

14. Tumblr blogs are automatically public. You need to
create a second private blog if you don’t want the
diaries to be in the public domain
Click here to make it
private. You will need
to give it a password.

15. Tumblr provides an intuitive user
interface for adding multiple types of
entries to the online diary
Most useful for
written thoughts

16. Two final learnings on getting the
most out of Tumblr
• There is no date function – so ask respondents to put in the
date of each entry
• Entries are in reverse order (last post first) – important to
remember if you are analysing something like a journey.

17. www.bedrockinsight.com.au
Consumer Insight – the foundation of
excellent marketing strategy.