Hey! Nielsen: Social Network as Research Tool

When I read the press release from Nielsen.com I thought Hey! Nielsen was a bad idea:
"Hey! Nielsen gives lovers of pop culture an opportunity to sound off online and to make their voices heard by decision-makers," said Karen Watson, Senior Vice President of Communications at The Nielsen Company, and Executive Sponsor of Hey! Nielsen.

"If you’re passionate about any aspect of the entertainment world, you will find like-minded consumers on Hey! Nielsen. We hope this will be a fun place to share opinions and discuss your favorite shows, movies and music. And because we will be providing our clients with insights from Hey! Nielsen members, joining the network is a way to let the entertainment industry know what you think."

A social network that gives me the opportunity to bond with "like-minded consumers" as we "let the entertainment industry know" what we think!

When I go to the site, Hey! Nielsen: Opinions, it doesn’t seem so horribly misguided or off-putting:
Hey! Nielsen is the place to make a name for yourself while trading opinions on TV, movies, music, personalities, web sites and more.

Hey! Nielsen looks nice and combines some good ideas.  Obviously it’s a smart dataplay for Nielsen if the social network attracts participants.  Now let’s just keep the VPs away from the mic and try to remember that if you want to communicate with folks who might participate in your social network, calling them something other than consumers is a simple but effective place to start.

Since Nielsen does seem to want to push the idea that participants can have an effect on what big media makes, messaging should clearly communicate that participants are powerful partners whose actions have real effects [if that's actually the case] rather than content generators who periodically drop some feedback in the digital suggestions box by voicing an opinion or taking a poll.

Hey! Nielsen has a blog.