Twitter wants to know how I'm related to people I follow on Twitter. A few minutes back the service asked me to take the strangest survey I have ever taken and it was the last one I expected Twitter to throw at me. It listed five Twitter users and asked me to define my relationship with them and why I followed them. I could pick from: We're related, we're friends, we work together (or did in the past), we go to the same school (or did in the past), I find their Tweets informative, I find their Tweets funny/amusing and I'm a fan outside of Twitter (see screenshot below). This survey seems to be part of a bigger study Twitter has started with international market research firm TNS Global, to understand the needs of Twitter users. According to an email we received, it is also organising 90-minute long international consumer interaction sessions in India from June 20-26 and a Twitter team will be flying down from the US specially for this. It has even offered a Shoppers Stop gift voucher worth Rs 2,000 for participating in the session. These mails and the survey above was sent to people (like me) who had signed up to participate in a research activity for Twitter. TNS Global specialises in doing research that will help companies launch new products, target new markets and reduce consumer churn. The problem with the online survey was that I know only two people from the list. This is unlike Facebook, where you're connected with people you know or are…
