Putting the Crowd to Work: Businesses Take Advantage of Crowdsourcing
Published 4/30/2009
Author: Nancy Pekala
Nancy Pekala is the AMA's Director of Online Content and the Editor of Marketing Matters.
Summary
Can crowdsourcing replace the creativity and unique skill sets of today’s marketers? Crowdsourcing is being touted as the next big thing but is it? The concept of crowdsourcing is the act of organizing large groups of people outside an organization to collaborate on tasks that might otherwise be accomplished within it. Social answers, help engines and Ask the Expert features are all forms of crowdsourcing.
While the jury is still out on whether crowdsourcing will gain any traction once it’s no longer the next big thing, right now it’s still the new thing. That means answering questions or completing tasks posed in online networks is still a novelty. How soon social networkers will tire of responding to questions tossed to the crowd is still to be determined.
Is crowdsourcing an effective tool for organizations today? Share ways in which you've utilized crowdsourcing here.
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