Are you researching for a key branding project or marketing assignment you are working on?
I know many of us turn to the web to find information perhaps about a potential client as we write proposals, about the industry sector a client is involved in so that we come well versed in their business and so we can identify where we can add value, or even checking out a competitor as part of the development of our brand strategy or marketing plan.
A free tool I have recently come across which I think has tremendous opportunities for research is Yahoo Pipes.
Yahoo Pipes provides you with the ability to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web creating a feed with relevant information. you can also publish your Yahoo Pipe so that others can access it or modify it for their own use.
Take a look at this video that shows you how to create your own pipe of research data.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
I use Google Alerts to support my research,and you can read an article here about 10 ways I use Google Alerts in my research.
One other tool I have been using recently is called Filtrbox (www.filtrbox.com). It allows you to set up a group of filters based on keywords and then refine them to get the results that are interesting to you. You can then combine filters together to give you a snapshot of a particular topic. Worth looking into for anyone doing market/industry research.