When, in the course of hashtag communities, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the social-network practices which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of Twitterdom requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

The history of the present #MR hashtag community is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over its Twitter inhabitants.

To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. (Based on coding 150 #MR tweets from Thursday and Friday.)

  • For imposing spam on us without our consent: 45 of 150 #MR tweets advocating our assembly into focus groups.
  • For exciting domestic incursions amongst us: 15 of 150 tweets tagging various and sundry gentlemen, including #Mr. Nobody, #Mr. Doctor and #Mr. Nasty.
  • For transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the work of desolation: 14 of 150 tweets in languages other than English with not a word of market research.
  • For a long train of abuses, usurpations and obscenities: 5 of 150 tweets.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Twitter users are created equal, that they are endowed by Twitter with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of hashtag. That to secure these rights, hashtag communities are instituted among users, deriving their just powers from the consent of the users. That whenever any form of hashtag becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the users to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new hashtag, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

To wit, a new #MRX hashtag community: MRX for Market Research Exchange, MRX for Market Research Excellence, MRX for Market Research Exodus! A Market Research X-Factor that will not be casually usurped by spammers or drive-by tweeters.

We, therefore, the public users of the #MR hashtag, assembled, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good users of this hashtag, solemnly publish and declare, that the #MRX hashtag community is, and of right ought to be, free and independent. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our followers and our Twitter accounts.

Author Notes:

Jeffrey Henning

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Jeffrey Henning, IPC is a professionally certified researcher and has personally conducted over 1,400 survey research projects. Jeffrey is a member of the Insights Association and the American Association of Public Opinion Researchers. In 2012, he was the inaugural winner of the MRA’s Impact award, which “recognizes an industry professional, team or organization that has demonstrated tremendous vision, leadership, and innovation, within the past year, that has led to advances in the marketing research profession.” In 2022, the Insights Association named him an IPC Laureate. Before founding Researchscape in 2012, Jeffrey co-founded Perseus Development Corporation in 1993, which introduced the first web-survey software, and Vovici in 2006, which pioneered the enterprise-feedback management category. A 35-year veteran of the research industry, he began his career as an industry analyst for an Inc. 500 research firm.