Bloggers scowl at IT industry analysts for many reasons. My top grievance with the analysts is boredom. I find the presentation of research more and more dull. How about mixing in a little YouTube magic with those statistics? Instead of webcasts and videos letting us watch analysts, how about videos letting us watch analysts do some research? Guy Kawasaki’s recent “Next Generation Insights” panel for the Churchill Club is a great example of what digital video could do for industry research.

He put together a small panel of “millenials” and asked them about media, advertising, mobile technology and communication preferences. He used digital video, veotags, and blogging to capture, document and discuss. The result is irresistible – and you can’t do this with a report, text blog or even photos. He lets you be a part of the experience. He lets you draw your own conclusions.

I see this as an example of how a simple combination of digital technologies could transform our collective experience with tech industry research.

For example, how about using this to supplement research reports and summaries. Trade in some talking head footage of analysts for footage of actual target decision makers and customers answering questions or debating among themselves over a sticky point.

Online video could also take industry research much deeper into much smaller market segments. Consider the possibilities for re-inventing focus groups, based on digital production and distribution economics.

At the risk of going overboard, digital video might inject some differentiation into analyst-hosted IT peer groups.

My point is that digital and social communications tools give us new options for exploring the human side of selecting and using technology. I think it’s a shame to use these tools just to talk about research — why not make them part of the research? Incorporating digital video and audio into the very fabric of research may be one way to make it more interesting and more credible.

By the way, here are the disclaimers: Guy Kawasaki is not an industry analyst. His panel was not meant to be a “scientific” research study — it was a panel. He did not suggest in any way that what he was doing could relieve my growing boredom with research reports and whatnot.

Read his blog, watch the Churchill Club video: Is Advertising Dead?.

Reprinted from Tekrati