Question

In 845 words, please explain in detail and provide three examples of crowdsourcing..

Answer 1

# Crowdsourcing :

Crowdsourcing means obtaining work, information, or opinions from a large number of people who usually provide their data via the Internet, social media, and smartphone apps. Manpower that are involved in crowdsourcing sometimes work as paid freelancers and others on voluntary basis.

For example, traffic apps encourage drivers to quickly report accidents and other roadway incidents to provide real-time updated information to all app users.

Crowdsourcing involves engaging a "crowd" / " group of people " for a common goal . sometimes innovation, problem solving etc . It is usually powered by new technologies, like social media and web 2.0. Crowdsourcing can take place on many different level(s) and across various industrie(s). Due to our growing connectivity, it is now easier than ever for individuals to contribute together

The contribution can be with ideas, time, expertise, or funds . This collective mobilization is known as crowdsourcing.

It is a process/journey of tapping in to individuals or groups of people, whether they are paid or unpaid . all are linked together with a common interest to bring forward powerful, increased results through their aggregated actions or efforts .

This mobilization can provide organizations with access to new idea(s) and solution(s), deeper consumer engagement, opportunities, optimization of tasks, and this leads to reduced costs. The Internet and social media have brought organizations closer to their stakeholders more than ever , hence laying thefundamental groundwork for new ways of collaborating and creating value together like never before in whole history.

Billions of people, all are connected by the Internet, contributing ideas and information to    projects big and small known as crowdsourcing.

@ Understanding Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing allows companies to farm out work to people anywhere in the country or anywhere in the world, which allows businesses access to a vast array of skills and expertise without incurring the normal overhead costs .

It is a popular method to raise capital/funds many projects. crowdsourcing is shared interest of a group, bypassing the conventional ways.

@ Crowdsourcing vs. outsourcing

   *** crowdsourcing and outsourcing are not the same things:

• When a business or organization uses crowdsourcing to find a solution to a problem, they are turning to a non-specified public group (for example Twitter users)
• Outsourcing a problem involves handing something off to a defined person or group (for example outsourcing work using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform)

@ Crowdsourcing vs open-source

Open-source refers to software for which the original source code is made available to anyone who can use/modify it . For example Mozilla Firefox : a web browser developed by thousands of people of global.

Crowdsourcing a project is not same as making a project open-source. Because even when a company     sources an idea from a large pool of people, it still retains control.

For many companies, making something open-source is a great way to progress microtasking projects. This involves a hands-off approach to ownership and is not good for projects involving valuable intellectual property.

@ Crowdsourcing vs crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a type of crowdsourcing where individuals contibute money toward an idea at the conceptual stage. This means consumers are investing in an idea before it becomes available .

sometimes crowdsourcing involves crowdfunding, most forms of crowdsourcing don'nt . crowdsourcing means asks a wide group of people to contribute their knowledge and expertise in solving a particular problem.

@ Where can crowdsourcing be applied :

Crowdsourcing touches across all social/ business interactions and domains . It is changing the way we are working, researching, make and market. Governments are using crowdsourcing to empower citizens and give a greater voice to the general public . In science and medical healthcare, crowdsourcing can democratize problem solving and increase innovation. In education, it can revolutionize the system, just as crowdfunding is currently challenging .

@ Some benefits of Crowdsourcing :

Crowdsourcing include cost savings, speed, and the ability to work with people who have skills that an in-house team may not have with them . If a task typically takes one employee a week to perform, a business can cut the turnaround time to a matter of hours by breaking the job up into many smaller parts .

@ Some examples of crowdsourcing :

#1 Waze :

Waze is among the most successful crowd-powered start-ups . It is an app that allows users to report traffic jams and automatically gives directions for the best possible route to take. Waze crowd sources information to determine traffic jams(also calculating driver's speed) .

This app proved that crowd is sometimes all a company needs.

#2 McDonalds Burger :

McDonalds decided to provide their customers free of cost reign and submit their valuable ideas for the types of burgers they like to see in their nearby store. They could create their perfect burgers online and the rest of the country could vote (for the best Burger).

Once the winners were declared , McDonalds released the burgers weekly, along with the picture of the creator.

#3 Starbucks :

Starbucks has a strong presence on multiple social networks, and regularly encourages consumers to discuss ideas(for the sake of improvement) along with employees from various Starbucks departments. They even have a website for this very purpose, which includes a leader board to track which customers are most active in a given duration.