1. Crowdsourcing
#NewCrowdSM4
Leigh Ortman
Alexandra Dolan
Charlotte Schaefer
Tim Killian

2. What is Crowdsourcing?
#NewCrowdSM4

3. “Crowdsourcing is the act of
taking a job traditionally
performed by a designated
agent (usually an employee)
and outsourcing it to an
undefined, generally large
group of people in the form of
an open call.”
– Jeff Howe, editor at Wired
Magazine
@crowdsourcing
#NewCrowdSM4

4. • Video of crowdsourcing

5. History

6. 1714- British Government asks citizens
for a way to find location while at sea.
#NewCrowdSM4

7. 1916- Planters Peanuts Logo Contest
Crowdsourced logo Final outcome
#NewCrowdSM4

8. 2001-
Wikipedia
Launches
#NewCrowdSM4

9. 2004- James Surowiecki writes
“The Wisdom of Crowds”
#NewCrowdSM4

10. Jeff Howe coined the
term in 2006.
#NewCrowdSM4

11. 2008 - IndieGoGo launched
Crowdfunding
@indiegogo
#NewCrowdSM4

12. CrowdConf
@CrowdCon
f
Started in
2010
#NewCrowdSM4

14. Iceland
crowdsources a
new constitution
proposal.
#NewCrowdSM4

15. Whois crowdsourcing?

16. Mark Wilson
• @crtlzee
• Founder of Philanthopr
“It may only take a few more
disasters (individuals who
despise a certain brand, etc,
teaming up) to take down a
brand in a public arena and
scare many corps away from
the idea.”

17. John Tozzi
• @jtozz
• Reporter for Bloomberg
Businessweek – covers small
business, entrepreneurship, &
innovation
“The main advantage is it allows
you to tap a wide network of
people who may have
specialized knowledge or
insight into a particular question
or problem.”

18. How do you crowdsource?

19. Applications & Websites

20. Thumb
Free mobile application
Users may either
request feedback from
users or provide
comments to others’ posts
Connect with users with
similar interests
Reward helpful
responses with Stars
@thumb #NewCrowdSM4

21. Dan Kurani
• @thumb
• @dankurani
• Founder & CEO, Thumb
“[Thumb] Is important
because opinions are
based on
values, beliefs, and
experiences which are
demographically and
culturally influenced.”

22. • “We built Thumb to help people
get real-time opinions while
shopping, however, people use
it for a wide breadth of
questions. Our users use the
product to discover new things
and people that are just like
them.”
• “Thumb is heavily gamified, and
it replicates a slice of everyday
life with real people (and all he
emotion that comes with it).”
- Dan Kurani

23. • Download Thumb to your smartphone
• Sign up with e-mail or Facebook
• Click “Me”  Click “Find Friends”
• Click “Search Thumb”
• Type in: cschaefe@syr.edu (Charlotte)
#NewCrowdSM4

24. • Enterprise
crowdsourcing
• Hires a network
over 2.5 million
people to perform
their crowdsourcing
• Large companies 
small businesses
pay CrowdFlower to
do their
crowdsourcing for
them
@crowdflower #NewCrowdSM4

26. Mollie Allick
• @mpallick
• Director of Events and PR
at CrowdFlower
“CrowdFlower gives the
ability to scale 2.5 million
workers…allowing work to
be done a lot faster and
providing a Gold Standard
for crowdsourcing
accuracy.”

27. CrowdFlower – Mollie Allick
• “Older companies can have a difficult time
adapting to a new way of gathering
information.”
• “We embed answers so we know the
correct information in advance to make
sure workers are doing the tasks
accurately.”

28.  Collaborative
production
website for
making music
 If a production
makes money,
the profits are
split 50/50 with
the company and
the artist(s).
@hitRECord #NewCrowdSM4

29. • “Think of this website less as an
exhibition space like YouTube or
Tumblr…this is more like our
studio. We come here to make
things together.” *
• “Anybody else can download
anybody’s records and remix it,
sample it, add to it, edit it, and
put up their version. Remix isn’t
theft, it is just how we work.” *
* From hitRECord.org
@hitRECordJoe

30. Download,
edit/add, re-
upload, and
other users
continue
cycle until
final product.

31. Why crowdsource?

32. Advantages
#NewCrowdSM4

33. Advantage1: With a huge pool of
participants, more ideas are bound to be
made. - John Tozzi
#NewCrowdSM4

34. Advantage 2: Feedback is gained quickly for
faster results.
- Mollie Allick, CrowdFlower
#NewCrowdSM4

35. Feedback is
instantaneous.
#NewCrowdSM4

36. Advantage 3:
Cheap for
companies.
#NewCrowdSM4

37. Disadvantages
#NewCrowdSM4

38. Disadvantage
1:
Requires
filtering
of Mollie Allick, CrowdFlower
- bad
information
#NewCrowdSM4

39. Disadvantage 2: Requires more in depth
validation; accuracy is put into question
- John Tozzi, BusinessWeek
#NewCrowdSM4

40. Disadvantage 3: Crowdsourcing relies on the
creativity of the masses – masses that might
not care enough or understand your brand
enough to create something great for you.
- Mark Wilson, Founder of Philanthopr

41. Looking Ahead…

42. “Brand Crowd”
Companies will look to consumers to spread
the word of their new products before they
hit the shelves.
- Marketingprofs.com
#NewCrowdSM4

43. Crowdfunding
Jumpstart Our Business Startup (JOBS) Act,
passed by the House of Representatives,
allows new businesses to use crowdfunding.
#NewCrowdSM4

44. Crowdsourcing Employment
Large companies have begun paying people
to perform crowdsourcing activities on a
daily basis.
- CrowdFlower
#NewCrowdSM4

45. Summing Up
• CrowdSourcing is an efficient way of gathering
information and feedback from unlimited sources
worldwide thanks to the internet and social
media
• Large Corporations to small businesses and
even individuals can make a living off of
crowdsourcing
• Crowdsourcing brings together numerous
viewpoints information and strategies together
but requires a filter