Assignment 4: How is crowdsourcing changing the way that companies approach creating content?

According to Oxford dictionaries, crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining information or input into a task or project by enlisting the services of a large number of people. While it is very popular with many companies, I do not know of a lot of people talking about it. There are millions of people connected to the Internet, which makes it easier for companies to have access to millions of intelligent people and of millions of information or material. Many businesses and individuals have resorted to crowdsourcing because it is cheaper and can be more efficient than traditional mediums. It is a way to get a lot more people involved than just professionals, so people can feel like they matter despite not having a fancy title.

The article, The Rise of Crowdsourcing, by Jeff Howe, discusses how a project director at the National Health Museum in Washington needed pictures of sick people and found a photographer who was charging her $600 for a few photos. The director discovered iStockphoto, which was a stock photo site where she got any picture she needed for a $1. The photographer could have never competed with that price. This is an example of crowdsourcing. People are turning to crowdsourcing because it reduces costs significantly and it offers more ideas and a burst of creativity in one place. I believe companies and individuals are considering crowdsourcing more than ever to create content because they can get better and faster results this way. According to Tweak Your Biz, Lego has the option on their website for users to design new products and even see how it would do in the market. I can go on the website and create a new product and people can vote on my product and if they like it, it could make it towards production and I would receive about 1% on the net revenue. This allows millions of people to share their creativity and in the end the company benefits tremendously from it. This also allows users to feel validated and important to the company so they will be encouraged to promote the company as well. The future of businesses could be crowdsourcing.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.