When you discover an interesting or important article, do you share it with your co-workers and peers? Or are you more the type to read something one of your colleagues shared, and then dig deeper into it to learn more? You could be a “Connector,” or a “Miner,” according to a new ethnographic study from Dow Jones Factiva.
The study observed the way different individuals in a company search for information and share it with their co-workers, and Dow Jones used the study’s data to create six broad psychological profiles based on different user behaviors.
Why did they do it? The core modality of Factiva, going all the way back to before Dow Jones Interactive and Reuters Business Briefing in the 1990s, has been search.
Information professionals, researchers, librarians and so forth go to Factiva to find information about a given subject.
But the thing is, 90% of these people (actual statistic from Dow Jones) are looking for information that they were going to repackage and share with others anyway. So Dow Jones conducted the research to clearly establish the sharing needs of its users so it could provide a better way for them to curate and share their own pages containing information they found in the Factiva database. The result is a beta product called Snapshot on Factiva.com which is geared toward one type of user. Snapshot is then tied to the Factiva iPad app, which is geared toward yet another type of user, the first one described below.
The Dow Jones Personas
The Compass- This is a company’s executive visionary, who relies on historical patterns, current activity, and trend forecasts to make long-term decisions about company vision. They mostly assign and review information from senior level staff members, and deal with mostly high-level views, but need well-cultivated, granular information. These are the users who benefit most from the iPad application.
The Connector- This is the company’s strategic connector, the person who is constantly neck-deep in the news and not-exactly-news that’s making its way through mainstream news and social media. This person curates and shares information with both colleagues and clients, and can often be topics that are work-related, or of personal interest to the Connector.
The Captain- This is the company’s leadership delegator, who monitors industry-specific trends, and focuses on efficiently summarizing and using new information to influence short-term decisions and goals. According to Dow Jones, “Captains initiate, delegate and receive/review research conducted by mid-level and junior staff. They also conduct initial research and then pass it off to their colleagues to look into further.”
The Miner- The company’s targeted investigator, who looks for specialized information and current events related exclusively to their industry. Most of the information these employees find is not the result of any assignment, but because they commonly dig around for more information independently and want to remain up to date on the opportunities in their industry, using only the best sources.
The Scout- Scouts are sort of like tipsters; they need information on projects that they’re immediately working on, and want to be kept up to speed on news and trends… but only within their specific area of responsibility.
The InfoPro- Also known as the Information Professional, Dow Jones gives this class of user the honorific of “next generation corporate librarian.” They are adept at search and database manipulation, are “not afraid of Boolean, and appreciate syntax.” This type of user is typically working on an item that will become a report or whitepaper and is often the person who decides whether or not a company will spend several thousand dollars on a particular piece of research or market report.
