CMNTY Adds 'Focus' Chat Functions

Online community specialist CMNTY has added a real-time video chat functionality called Focus to its platform, to help researchers host video sessions as part of in-depth interviews, virtual focus groups and live brainstorming exercises.

The company was founded in the Netherlands in 2007 by Maxim Schram (pictured), and opened an NYC office in 2015. Its DIY platform includes quant and qual data collection, features the CMNTY Pulse moderator's dashboard, and also filters language and organizes content using bookmarks.

Focus, which is an extension to the firm's existing qual research toolkit, provides a way to conduct a live group chat session with a moderator, respondents and observers within a community platform, helping record non-verbal communication such as body language and tone of voice. In addition, Focus integrates with the CMNTY Pulse central insights hub, giving community managers access to recorded video sessions, automated audio transcripts and sentiment for further analysis.

Schram comments: 'An online community is a great research tool, especially now people are at home en masse and ready to talk. Focus taps into people's natural tendency to connect with others through video, leading to even more useful insights'.

Web site: www.cmnty.com .