I have been a direct and database marketing consultant since 1984. In all that time, one consistent verity is that most internal information technology departments think they can – and should – be responsible for the marketing database. In many instances, the IT department has no idea what it is talking about.

Welcome to Broker Roundtable, where each week we ask list brokers to give their opinions on issues that matter to the marketing community. This week's question: How reliable is data from social media for predicting buying behavior?