Let’s forget about hiring the most successful candidate for the job and instead let many people contribute for free to get the job done! That is crowd sourcing. Crowd Sourcing is a new business concept coined by journalist Jeff Howe, and is when companies outsource work to a crowd of people (the public). Many companies are utilizing crowd sourcing to benefit their companies and their own research and the method has proved to be successful. Many people can begin to conduct their own way of crowd sourcing with a bit of creativity.
As many began to understand the term of crowd sourcing, many began to put the concept into use. Companies began using crowd sourcing as a way to benefit their business without putting forth huge amounts of money. Brainrack.com has benefited from crowd sourcing by putting businesses in touch with students throughout the world. Business companies can place a challenge on the Web site, or a question that students can upload their own solutions to. Out of the many suggestions received, the company selects a winner with the most prominent answer and rewards the them with a cash prize, usually between $300-$7,000. Another successful crowd sourcing Web site is http://www.onebillionminds.com/. The site gives the opportunity for anyone to pose their own challenge to the public in the categories of Science, Technology, Design, Business or Social Convention. It also offers you to set your own reward for the winner you believe offers the best solution.
The are times when crowd sourcing doesn’t work well, such as in Wikipedia. Wikipedia gives anyone the opportunity to edit or add information to the wikipedia site. Wikipedia once said that “David Beckham was a Chinese goal keeper in the 18th century,” which is proof that this type of crowd sourcing can’t be that all accurate. “Richard Gere appears on the back of the Australian $10 Note dressed as a woman,” is also wrong information that was once found on Wikipedia. I must say however that Wikipedia is contains accurate information a lot of the time.
I believe we all can benefit from crowd sourcing, not for just existing businesses but new starts as well. I would love to begin my own travel writing magazine, but I don’t have the expenses to pay writers or for advertisers. I would offer beginning writers to write for my magazine for free but in return they will benefit from getting their names out there (publicity) and building their own writing resume. Writing publications may see their work and if they like the writers, they may offer them a paying writing gig. In this way, my magazine will get popular and the writers will get their names out there; we both benefit from this deal.
I believe that crowd sourcing will grow as more people understand its benefits between both parties, the crowd and the business. In order for it to work, both parties must feel rewarded or will gain a reward to feel obligated to participate in the crowd sourcing activity.
