Discuss how social demand and information available on the Internet can aid a manager in forecasting.

 Today, data is everywhere; it comes from social media, search engines, and online retailing. This data provide a key to predicting the future if done properly. Today companies use big data and crowdsourcing to help create financial forecasts and trends. For example, by scrubbing data on prices from online sources, companies can predict inflation much more quickly than the U.S. government can. By monitoring searches on the word inflation, it can better gauge consumer expectations and worries relative to price increases. For example, pricing data for many (or most) products are available on the Internet. Such kind of data may be useful in predicting trends like future spending and demand.
Economists believe that there is wisdom in crowds, that their data can be explored and analyzed on a moment-by-moment basis. Analytics can be used to monitor this data, but external variables, such as terrorism or natural disasters, can also be followed to adjust expectations. Also, machine learning can be used to improve forecasting. In these exciting times for forecasting, we may be moving from an era where data are limited and causal factors affecting business are rare. With social media and other sources of data, researchers and forecasters have new opportunities to predict the future more accurately. As a manager, it is important that one understands forecasting and can question assumptions to support better decision making for your organization.