Who is the beneficiary of those short polls at the end of each thread?

[BIWI]

I notice there's a little icon for BeOp which is, apparently, is the first independent conversational ecosystem for media and brands

Apart from the fact that this is an absolutely dreadful way to collect accurate data (speaking as an ex-market researcher), who are you collecting this data for?

Why should MNetters bother to answer these?

Hey @BIWI thanks for your feedback - we really like that you don't pull any punches. 😁 The beneficiary is us! And hopefully you - the MNers. We're currently testing a new way to survey our users to get their thoughts on certain topical issues. You'll no doubt be aware that we've had an insight panel for over ten years and this is just a new way of delivering those questions. We use this info to improve Mumsnet and find out the issues that are important to parents at the moment.

Let us know if you've got any more questions or suggestions.

....to improve Mumsnet and find out the issues that are important to parents...

I mean, this one on the Investments page I was reading is a little...odd, in tone don't you think?!

The one about naming a sex toy was very very weird.

Ah, yes - to some MNers, it may be an important issue! We'll pass on the feedback about it being a bit odd.

I don't like the polls. They seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. And makes me wonder about data protection, to be frank

Surely there's enough info already on the threads for marketing to do their work?!

A Mumsnet branded sex toy is an important issue to some mumsnetters?

Really?

Sorry if it was a bit too abrupt/direct @YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet

Nevertheless, beyond generating soundbite headlines, these polls really aren't much use for anything else - and they certainly aren't sound market research. I'd also dispute that they can really give you any true insight into Mumsnetters and what they want

The questions are asked with no way of collecting context - so, for example, there was one recently about how many cars in the household. Well, in my household there are 3 adults and one car; in someone else's household there might only be one adult (e.g. a single parent) and one car. Our needs/reasons for having the one car are going to be totally different.

You also have no idea who is actually answering these questions - unless you're cross-analysing responses with specific posters, which I'd be very surprised by. If you are, I'd also be taking issue with this from a confidentiality pov. Without the cross-analysis you have no idea if your responses are coming from men or women, from young or old, from North or South, etc. All of which could be important factors to take into account.

There's also the issue that you have no idea if answers are genuine - over on The Site That Shall Be Nameless there are already people saying that they answer them at random, just for fun/out of spite.

... and as for the sex toy one, linked on this thread - really? Could you not at the very least post that only in the sex topic? You know that many posters don't like posts about sex on the general boards.

Digging a bit further @YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet, please could you clarify what this means - this is taken from the privacy notice which is linked to in very small letters at the bottom of the poll:

Data:

BeOp may be compelled to collect data on how BeOp WIDGETS are used by the user. BeOp distinguishes between two types of data:

1 - Service data:

Necessary for the proper functioning of our online services, these data are collected through proprietary BeOp tracking, and used by BeOp for BeOp. They represent how the WIDGET is used by the users, and, among other things, enable us to:

Effectively collect information on user participation with components
Create statistics in order to determine the results of diverse surveys
Inform the user or the component's creator of a component's number of participants

To further ensure the proper functioning of our online services, a cookie is installed on the publisher's domain ONLY to identify users and ensure they can browse properly using a BeOp widget. Among other things, this cookie enables us to:

Effectively collect information on user participation with components
Enable users to continue using a component at the point where they left it during a previous browsing session
Keeps users from seeing the same sponsored component again if they have already provided responses
Without the users’ consent, BeOp will not use the service data collected to create user profiles in order to display targeted or personalized advertising.

2 - Additional data:

When users participate via BeOp forms, or when engaging or registering with our partners, their personal data are collected and stored by BeOp on European servers, and can be exported by the component's owner for a period of 13 months.

BeOp's partners may use third-party tracking services, which may subsequently be used to display personalized advertising to users via tools other than those of BeOp. These third parties are only authorized to use the collected information to ensure their services function properly.

BeOp acts in the capacity of technical service provider for these partners, and thus agrees to provide them with all the tools necessary to properly acquire user consent via the BeOp DASHBOARD. The component’s creator must decide whether it is necessary to include a means of acquiring consent to use personal data.

Finally, BeOp joined the IAB's TCF in September 2019 in order to acquire user consent for the following purposes:

Storing and accessing a third-party cookie (see below)
Personalizing the advertising/component based on a user's utilization of BeOp
Targeted dissemination of the advertising/component based on the information collected via a BeOp third-party cookie
Measuring the effectiveness of the advertising/component on users
Using the geographic location of users to provide them with content adapted to their location
If users do not consent to the use of the third-party cookie, BeOp agrees not to fulfill the purposes mentioned above in order to disseminate a component that requests it. Advertising delivered back via the user’s WIDGET will be selected randomly from content not requiring these selective and restrictive criteria.

Does this mean that if I participate, that my personal details are being handed over to BeOP?

Hi BIWI

Thanks for flagging - good questions!

We'll get back to you about this as soon as we can.

Thanks @LilyMumsnet

That's really concerning. I'm glad I didn't do the survey now

Thanks, @BIWI - no, we are not sharing any personal information with BeOp. These polls are only shown to users who give consent via the cookie popup. You can check if you’ve given consent by clicking 'Privacy settings' in the footer, clicking on vendors and searching for ‘BeOp’. You are able to turn off consent at any time or you can choose to not answer the polls.

These polls will not entirely replace other ways we run research, and we’re using them to supplement our understanding of how Mumsnet users feel about various topics on a topline level. If we were hoping to achieve a deep understanding of a topic, or we were running research on a more serious or sensitive topic, we would always seek to do this via more traditional methods (where we are, as you say, able to understand the impact of demographic and other variables on the results).

Thanks, everyone, for your feedback on the placement of one of the polls we’ve had live, too. At the moment we’re in the process of testing these polls, and so we haven’t finalised the way we’re targeting their placement to different areas of the site, but we’re already planning on making some improvements so that they appear in more contextually relevant places (which will hopefully solve this concern).

Anyway - we hope this answers your questions but do shout if not.

Thank you @YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet

I had no idea about any of those privacy settings, so it's been really useful. Now they're all turned off!

I keep being presented with polls, even when I've already completed them.

Hi @BoreOfWhabylon

Are you seeing repeats?

@LilyMumsnet Yes, Lily. Frequently.

I get repeats & also results of many, repeated. I don't mind filling them in but because most are repeats I stop looking at them all. Others are just ... irrelevant. Like headphones for kids: I don't buy them. Can't find an opinion.

The polls don’t bother me from a data perspective.

They do worry me from the perspective of the direction of the site, though. Are we going to see Mumsnet vibrators? Am I going to tell someone something I learned on Mumsnet and be met with “oh Mumsnet- isn’t that the sex toy company?”?

I'm sometimes puzzled by the range of options offered for answers. e.g. the one on headphones offers an option for "NA no children" but not one for "NA, never bought them, not planning to"

The Mumsnet Sorcerer vibrator or the Postman?

please tell me these come with a range of interchangeable little hats depending on which character you want?

I've lost count of how many times I've had the car one. Just clicking at random at this point tbh. I don't know why. I should probably go for a walk or something. What a life.

Afternoon, everyone. We are still testing these and we adjusted the targeting last week, which should mean you don't see the same polls repeated regularly hopefully. Do let us know if that's not the case though, and we'll continue to tweak.