In January 2007 the Economist Intelligence Unit polled 406 senior executives from around the world on the impact of Web 2.0 on their businesses. Sponsored by FAST, the online survey focused on the prospects for improved internal and external collaboration, increases in revenue or profitability, and implementation challenges.

Respondents included 406 senior executives, of which 41% were from the C-suite or the board. The average company size was about US$2.5bn in revenue, and major industry segments included financial and professional services, life sciences, IT/telecoms and media. Two-fifths of the respondents were located in North America, about one-quarter each in Europe and the Asia/Pacific region, and the rest from elsewhere in the world.

The survey was supplemented with in-depth interviews with senior executives across a range of industries, including financial services, telecoms, advertising and publishing.