Web 2.0 and Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is the combination of the terms ‘crowd’ and ‘outsourcing’ wherein the tasks, typically, performed by employees are outsourced to the world at large (crowd).

Crowdsourcing model captures the intelligence of the crowd using advanced social media technology and knowledge of crowd behavior to come up with solutions for a wide range of problems. This term was first coined by Jeff Howe in a June 2006 Wired magazine article "The Rise of Crowdsourcing” and this model invites the crowd to come up with new solutions or modify existing solutions so as to finally arrive at a solution that has a high chance of success.

The Process of Crowdsourcing:

Source: www.chaordix.com

The crowdsourcing model is not a new idea in itself. The act of exploiting the combined wisdom of the crowd has long been in practice. What is novel about this is the way it leverages the mass collaboration made easily possible by Web2.0 technologies such as twitter, facebook, orkut etc. New product ideas, feedback on current products, required modifications and all that is needed by a firm can be obtained by using these Web2.0 technologies. Web2.0 has made it very simple and economically feasible to reach out to the universe for open innovation. If Web2.0 is about creating contents on the web through collaboration of all internet users, crowdsourcing is fast becoming its driving force. Crowdsourcing entirely symbolizes the buzzword often used for Web2.0, ‘Wisdom of crowd’ as it leverages the talent and expertise of the crowd to create content and solve problems. Web2.0 has made the contents provided by the crowd at large more effective in two ways. Firstly, it has made interaction between the large group of unorganized people fairly easy and trouble free. Secondly, Web2.0 allows users to work on problems in a group without requiring them to be physically present and thus, less conscious of them being judged physically. This increases their productivity and more attention can be given to the project.

A highly successful application of crowdsourcing that has taken advantage of the aspects of Web2.0 is Wikipedia. It allows users from anywhere to create, add or modify contents from the comfort of their homes. Informations which are available on this site come from web users, who are allowed to create, add or change contents as deemed necessary. Crowd has also made collecting of data easier. IdeaScale, for example, helps to organize feedback from the crowd regarding old and new products, concepts and service, among other areas. It organizes the process and interprets the feedback. In addition to this, crowdsourcing also helps in getting new product ideas from the crowd. All of these advantages could be realized only because of the interactive platform provided by Web2.0 which has made networking with a wide range of audience possible. Also, it has become easier for companies to leverage the collective knowledge of the public just by a click of the mouse, unlike in earlier times when one had to do extensive research to know the firms where one could outsource their work. Moreover, these firms also charged exorbitant amounts of money to do the tasks. Tasks for which firms charged, say, twenty thousand rupees can now be completed at one-tenth of that amount and in some cases can be done free of cost depending on the terms offered by the company for the individuals who come with the solutions.

Now, companies do not have to apply arduous algorithms to understand consumer behavior or indulge in grueling tasks to come up with path breaking solutions. Instead they just have to ask the crowd, all thanks to Web2.0!!