Successful market research today requires an higher degree of information organization acumen than it did in the past.  In the old days, we used to go the library, get chummy with the research assistants, and take lots of notes.  If we were smart, we organized those notes in categories and then gathered them all up to write our reports or papers.  We had access to a pretty limited amount of information, even though it seemed like we cooled that seat in the library for days.

Today, the opportunity is that there is a great deal of information available on the internet.  While I miss my friendly research librarian (and I still trot off to the library now and then for the ambiance and fellowship if nothing else), it's great to be able to access so much information and data through your desktop.  The problem is, now we have A LOT MORE information that we need to store, sort, and access.

I've fooled around with a variety of research organizing methods, but generally ended up with a bunch of bookmarks I that didn't make sense, a list of notes cut out of articles, and some comments jotted in a notepad. Then, I discovered Google Notebook.  Now, I right click in the page I'm reading and click on  "Note this (Google Notebook)".  Later, when I'm ready to review my notes, I click on the Notebook icon in the right hand corner of my browser frame and there's all my research.  I can also write a brief description of my note so I know what the link was all about in the first place.  The ability to add depth to your surfing is what pulls this away from simply bookmarking sites, since it adds intelligence and context to your research.  Did I mention you can add labels as well?

I love easy and this is easy.  Not a researcher?  Try to collect articles you want to read later, websites you don't have time to look at, and anything else you find on the web that you want to capture and return to.  Google Notebook - very cool.