The results for the last opinion poll are:

CIMdata’s latest opinion poll on the sources our readers and website visitors use to keep informed regarding Product Lifecycle Management shows that their most important source of news and information related to PLM is email newsletters (48%), followed by blogs (31%), and then by PLM vendor press releases at 7% . Facebook and hard copy magazines, each at 4%, were far down on the list of PLM sources along with LinkedIn Groups (2%), Twitter (2%), and YouTube (2%).

Our experiences indicate that there are a number of factors that account for email newsletters as the most favored source. (1) They offer PLM news and information in near-real-time with high visibility (email or RSS) that is available 24/7 wherever there is Internet connectivity, and (2) they are versatile, i.e., news can be forwarded or copied and shared easily, and some even include links to electronic copies of articles from online versions of hard copy magazines. This facilitates quick skimming of relatively robust content for items of interest.

With regard to Blogs, our experiences indicate that they can contain useful news and industry expert comments that are not contained in PLM vendor and service provider press releases and newsletters. Additionally, they often raise issues and welcome comments from readers. This facilitates other viewpoints and stimulates discussion and can be a good source of PLM market intelligence.

Finally, it is possible that email newsletters and blogs are comprehensive enough that the other sources mentioned in our poll are used only to supplement them and/or to tap into more social aspects of PLM knowledge acquisition.

NOTE: The results of these polls are anecdotal, not scientific.
If you have a suggestion for a poll you'd like to see contact us at info@cimdata.com.