I've been participating in these surveys and, in my opinion, they do provide an opportunity to either contribute input or vent frustrations. Frankly, I've done both and I'm happy to take a few minutes to do it. I don't know how seriously they take the feedback from online surveys but corporations like the BBC are not dumb. I take part in focus groups where you personally visit market research firms and you are paid for your time. They do studies on anything from auto insurance to large restaurant chains and they take it very seriously. The last one I attended was two weeks ago. There were 9 participants and each was paid $125 so based on the investment alone, it?s obvious that they want direct, sincere answers from consumers.