Back in 2005, James Surowiecki wrote a book by the name of The Wisdom of Crowds. The basic thesis of the book was this: "Under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them." The book went on to become a bestseller, and it spawned a new movement: Crowdsourcing.
Today, crowdsourcing is becoming an increasingly popular way for businesses of all shapes and sizes to tap into the collective wisdom of crowds, getting better ideas, and saving money while they do it. In short, crowdsourcing is the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the form of an open call. When Pepsi decided to update its logo a couple of years ago, it took the traditional route -- hiring the Arnell Group design firm and paying it about $1 million. However, when Boulder, Colorado-based design firm Victors and Spoils crowdsourced a new logo for one of its clients -- Dish Network -- it offered (on crowdsourcing site 99designs.com) five prizes of just $2,500 each for the top designs. If you think there was little or no interest in this offer, you'd be wrong. The competition to design the new logo for Dish Network attracted 1,875 designs. While some of the submissions were really bad and many just so-so, some were quite innovative and fresh.
If you're interested in tapping into the crowdsourcing revolution, check out these sites:
So is there really wisdom in crowds? Give crowdsourcing a try and let us know.
