Crowdsourcing anyone?

By now you’ve most likely heard of “crowdsourcing”. Okay, now what is it and why should I care?

Crowdsourcing is a new way to look at old problems by going to the crowd for the answers. Research shows that the collective is not only smarter than a few folks; it’s also smarter than its smartest members.
 

Some early adaptation models of crowdsourcing include IStockphoto, Wikipedia, and even Google, as their algorithm takes into account what people click on to make their results more relevant for the next person. The great thing is more applications are coming on board every month now. And I think they’re making the world a better (and more connected) place!

For example, we used to go to our church groups or family members for recommendations for a good restaurant or a good mechanic. Nowadays, we go to Twitter.
 

Now with some emerging technologies, we can harness the power of the crowd to improve almost every process and product and to include just about everyone. The way some of these companies are building their platforms, crowdsourcing is becoming as user-friendly as Facebook.

Every opportunity presents some challenges. Crowdsourcing is no different. Some people think technology will eliminate the personal connections. In my humble opinion it will actually enhance it since it takes people (and their ideas) to make this system work. We have seen this progress already in all the communities being created by social media.
 

As always, it might take some time for the technology to catch up so we can fully leverage this concept. With the world changing at a head-snapping pace, it will not take very long.
 

I’m pretty sure this concept will one day make its way to your office, if it hasn’t already!