What a fun and web 2.0ish term! Crowdsourcing is the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call. Or a better way to describe it is: “Hey Bob, you’re doing great, but we’re going to ask these 1000 people to do your job better and faster.”
It is an interesting concept though. Let’s just say a big client is offering a new service and I need a clever headline for the ad. I could take the time and bang my head for hours, maybe days and be happy with the result. But what if I ask 100 creative types to come up with a headline in 30 minutes? I bet I would get really great headlines. What’s wrong with that? The client gets an effective headline and I get to fiddle with my iPhone.
Tell me what you think.
Crowdsourcing isn’t just a creative phenomenon. It’s great for fast and easy idea generation for just about anything…including your Halloween costume if you’re the blogging CEO of Southwest Airlines.
Business are also using the wisdom of crowds as an internal prediction market technique to estimate costs, demand, etc.
Exactly! Bust open the tubes of communication to gain insight and perspective on the big picture as well as the nuts & buts of ideas. It’s seeing the forest for the trees but also seeing all the neighboring forests too. You know what I mean?