Two Social Media Projects Implementing Crowdsourcing
What seems like ages ago, Web 1.0 was upon us. Simple webpage design, no RSS feeds, not even a "Tweet This" icon... it seems unimaginable. Fortunately, Web 1.0 had a successor: Web 2.0.
What Web 1.0 lacked in complexity, Web 2.0 has made up for in endless possibilities in facilitating conversation, collaboration, and participation that knows no geographical boundaries. Web 2.0 offers communications professionals a wealth of opportunities to convey our messages to specific audiences, and, more importantly, interact with our audiences and hear their comments and feedback - good or bad - in a spontaneous, real-time way.
Taking this interaction to a new level, and moving beyond collaboration, is the implementation of crowdsourcing. The purpose of crowdsourcing is two-fold, (1) to pool ideas and suggestions straight from the consumer and (2) creating a virtual marketplace of ideas. Think of it as a virtual suggestion box. The crucial part of any successful crowdsourcing venture, though, is it's second phase: action. If you aren't going to seriously consider the feedback you receive while crowdsourcing, you might as well be throwing your consumers' ideas in a garbage can.
One successful example, My Starbucks Idea was launched by the company as a web platform where customers can share, vote, and discuss their ideas to better the brand. As Starbucks so politely puts it,
"What would make your Starbucks experience perfect? We know you've got ideas - big ideas, little ideas, maybe even totally revolutionary ideas - and we want to hear them all."
