Ten Crowdsourcing Trends for 2011. 11inShareinShare11 Crowdsourcing is fundamentally changing business, government, non-profits, education, research, and other sectors. Remarkably, we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg. Here are my picks for the top ten crowdsourcing trends for 2011: 1. Crowdsourcing marketplaces will earn significantly more market share.
In 2010, the top two design crowdsourcing marketplaces (crowdSPRING and 99designs) together paid well over $1 million dollars every month to thousands of designers from around the world. These payments will increase to the mid seven figures monthly in 2011. 2. This trend is rapidly accelerating. It’s not surprising that professionals are increasingly drawn to crowdsourcing marketplaces and initiatives. crowdSPRING designers and writers have recently worked with some of the world’s best brands, including: Amazon, LG, TiVo, Starbucks, Philips, Forbes, ConAgra, Epic Records, Random House, Grolsch, Barilla, The Economist, Air New Zealand and many others. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. YouTube video production meets crowdfunding. Crowdfunding has become a viable way for budding entrepreneurs to jumpstart a project, charity or the like. Kickstarter, Indiegogo, GoFundme and Crowdrise are just a few of the many services that use the power of the people (and their pockets) to help smaller businesses and causes succeed.
Other people, mostly musical or visual artists, however, are harnessing YouTube to share their work with the world. With more than 1 billion visitors a month and some significant success stories to date (ever hear of Justin Bieber?) YouTube seems a natural place to showcase talent on a shoestring budget. But what if you want to make a living off your talent and aren't banking on Usher being shown your videos (which helped Bieber get his break)?
Or you're less than excited about traditional funding routes like bank loans or courting investors? That was the question that inspired Josef Holm, founder and CEO of TubeStart, a new crowdfunding platform specifically focused on supporting YouTube creators. Crowdfunding meets Amazon: A website that raises money, handles e-commerce. A new "crowdfunding" site launches today. "Oh no, not another," you might yawn. No, it's not just another, at least according to the people behind it. Crowd Supply, based in Portland, Ore., wants to do more than raise money for you. It wants to become your e-commerce reseller, building and running your online order system and shipping your goods. No other crowdfunding company does that, according to Crowd Supply.
"After crowdfunding, our pre-order and fulfillment services allow project creators to focus on their designs and future projects instead of packing and shipping boxes," co-founder and CEO Lou Doctor says in a press release. Crowdfunding is the practice of raising donations to fund a company or project. Crowd Supply focuses on companies that sell physical goods. The company's business model? Crowdfunding, meet Amazon. Photo from FedEx More crowd behavior on SmartPlanet: Got questions? Someone at the right place, time can help. Some days you just don’t have enough time. You want to know how long the wait is at a restaurant, if the opening band has finished playing, or if parking's available off Broadway above 96th.
Wouldn’t it be great if someone who’s already there could just tell you? An application called MoboQ does exactly this. It links social networks with location data to let users ask time-sensitive questions about specific locations -- and get them answered by complete strangers on the spot. New Scientist reports. A product of Shanghai incubator Diggerlab, the app’s only available right now with Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-equivalent.
You ask a question about specific places in the physical world. Since its launch last year, MoboQ has about 100,000 users (although, any of the 400 million Weibo users can answer your question). Twitter can almost do this, but only if respondents happen to be monitoring for the right keywords. [From New Scientist] Image: dbrekke via Flickr. How the crowd is making fashion design more efficient. Traditionally, emerging fashion designers face a number of obstacles to turning their ideas into reality -- from finding suppliers to drumming up PR. But an emerging class of businesses is breaking down these barriers -- and creating a more efficient fashion design business in the process.
Take Stitch Collective, a New York company launched in 2012 that produces crowdsourced handbags. Here’s how its latest piece came about: On April 1, the company put out a call at fashion schools and design networks seeking submissions for “an evening bag that combined style and practicality.” Ideas poured in from places as far-flung as Estonia, Taiwan, Mexico, Massachusetts, Ohio and California. Based on which designs were most feasible to produce, Stitch Collective chose 14 finalists, and over two weeks, its community of accessories enthusiasts voted on their favorite. “I don’t think that would have happened at a traditional fashion company,” says Flint & Tinder founder Jake Bronstein.
Judge: NYC Airbnb stay illegal. There's more bad news for the sharing economy coming out of New York City. After the car-sharing service RelayRides recieved a cease-and-desist letter and halted its New York City services last week, Airbnb, the short-term room rental service and hotel disruptor, is also facing legal problems. CNET is reporting a New York judge ruled that a man who rented out his room on Airbnb did so illegally. He was fined $2,400 for breaking New York City's illegal hotel law. This hardly comes as a surprise as Airbnb's legality has been questioned in New York and other cities through the U.S., including its hometown San Francisco. Earlier this year travel website SKIFT estimated that more than half of the New York City rentals on Airbnb were illegal.
The New York case is centered around a 2011 law that makes it illegal for New York residents to rent out a property for less than 29 days. NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400 [CNET] Consumers are starting to design cars over the Internet. Until recently, auto manufacturers relied on surveys and customer focus groups to help guide new car designs. Now, through social media, they may go to the customers directly for ideas and innovations. That's one of the conclusions of a new report issued by PwC, which describes how automobile design is evolving into a collaborative engagement between customers, dealers, employees and suppliers. Modes of connectivity include online communities, social network sites, crowdsourcing techniques and contests.
"But co-creation is more than just getting thousands of 'followers' or 'fans,'" the report advises. PwC was addressing the auto industry in its report, but the notion of co-creation extends across all industries as well. The report cites three examples of customer co-creation in action: Fiat Mio was launched in Brazil, "based on more than 11,000 ideas submitted by 17,000 subscribers in more than 120 countries," PwC relates. Now, a service to crowdsource employee bonus awards. It's always been up to the boss to hand out bonuses to employees.
But do bosses really understand who's getting things done in the trenches, or do they play favorites? A new web platform shifts that decision to employees themselves. Daniela Walker, writing at the PSFK site, surfaced details about Bonus.ly, a web-based platform designed to enable employees to reward their co-workers for jobs well done. Employers sign up for the service, then allocate a sum of money each month that then gets distributed upon individual employee recommendations. Essentially, the site is crowdsourcing the doling out of bonuses.
On its website, Bonus.ly makes the case that a peer-to-peer recognition program provides transparency to the bonus process. A case study posted at Bonus.ly's website illustrates its implementation at an Oracle division, rolled out to 78 department employees this past November: "Each of the team members received a monthly 100-point allowance, recurring monthly.