Date: Fri 11-Sep-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

iinfo-information-money-fee

Full Text:

INTERNET INFO FOR REAL PEOPLE: $$ For Information

By Bob Brand

My success in selecting Connecticut State Lottery and PowerBall winners totals

zilch. If this mirrors your experience, it may be time to try another

approach.

Gathering reliable information using the Internet presents unusual challenges.

Now, several websites offer the opportunity to enter drawings for cash/prizes

in exchange for focus group information on specific topics. Some of the major

players are: American Consumer Opinion, Cybergold, Greenfield Online and

MyPoints. Several months ago, I registered for one of them: Greenfield Online.

Here are the steps I followed.

Go to the web-site. Fill out a profile permitting you to enter as a registered

member of Greenfield Online. This generally takes 15 to 20 minutes. The

information is held in confidence. Your e-mail address becomes your membership

name. It is a good idea to write your password in a bound notebook. Based on

the information provided, Greenfield matches membership profiles against the

demographic requirements needed by their survey sponsors. People who qualify

are notified via e-mail to complete an on-line survey.

Personal Experiences

Since my registration in April, I have received e-mail on five or six

occasions asking for my opinion on various subjects. The e-mail message

provides instructions with the URL (uniform resource locator) of the address

where the survey can be found. I only enter my membership name. I use my Juno

address as the password. Apparently my address is maintained in the Greenfield

Online database. (Note: I am paranoid about privacy. I have not received any

spam as a result of my participation with Greenfield Online.) In each case,

the surveys take about 15 minutes.

Surveys for which I qualified covered the following topics: high speed

Internet access, portal websites, Viagra, online newspapers and the political

process. The bulk of the survey uses radio buttons (a black dot appears by the

selected answer). However, some questions require typed responses. I feel that

it is important to give well thought out written answers. A personal suspicion

holds that quality answers lead to greater opportunities for participation in

future surveys.

The Prizes

Members who complete the survey are entered in a drawing for cash prizes.

Greenfield Online selects one $200, two $100, and eight $50 winners per

survey. Winners are notified by e-mail. Since January 1, 1998, Greenfield

Online has distributed total winnings of over $185,000 to 4,156 winners.

Sadly, I am not one of the select, yet.

Starting September 1, Greenfield members will automatically be issued a

personal iGain account. This program will give away hundreds of more incentive

prizes. (Note: at this writing, the iGain account is under construction and

could not be accessed. This should change shortly). The iGain accounts can be

accessed from the web-site and checked periodically. Non-cash prizes such as a

cruise or merchandise are planned for the near future.

Sand and Surf

If a new column fails to appear here, it may mean that I won the $2,500

Vacation Getaway. Although unlikely, I could be stuck in a place under a palm

tree with a pina colada with no Net access. Frankly, while this may seem like

long odds, I think it is more likely to happen than buying a winning PowerBall

ticket. Try it. You may get lucky!

URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) of interest:

http://www.acop.com/ http://www.cybergold.com/

http://www.greenfieldonline.com/

http://www.mypoints.com/

(This is the 120th of a series of elementary articles designed for surfing the

Internet. Next, eBay is the subject on tap. Stay tuned. Until next week, happy

travels through cyberspace.

Previous issues of "Internet Info for Real People" (including links to sites

mentioned in this article) can be found at http://www.thebee.com. Please

e-mail comments and suggestions to rbrand@JUNO.com or editor@thebee.com.)