Leveraging the Collective Intelligence and Effort of Digital Crowds

October 31, 2015

Read The Full Prompt

In this module we have examined how firms can leverage digital technologies to harness the power of collective intelligence from the crowds to tackle a range of problems such as innovation problems and funding startups. For this assignment you have three options:

1 – Pick one industry where no firms have leveraged crowds, and come up with a crowd-based business model that may potentially transform the industry. Describe how you plan to create and capture value. Explain why the crowd will participate, and why your crowd-based model is better than the current model employed by the incumbents.

2 – Describe a company that is using crowds (external or internal) in an innovative manner. Describe how they incentivize participation and manage the crowd. What are the challenges? Describe how value creation and value capture occur, and the growth potential of this business.

3 – Companies often struggle with crowds as well. Describe failed crowdsourcing efforts and explain how and why the company failed. Given what you have learned in the course, what would you do differently?

Create an approximately 500-750 word post to make your contribution. Please create appropriate tags for your post. Please also respond to and comment on three other posts per module. Feel free to use graphics, data, videos and links to other sites to corroborate your points.

Please prepare a two minute pitch about your blog entry before the class.

Submitted (136)

WHY YELP ISN’T RELEVANT + WHAT CAN BE DONE
Y.S.H.
Last modified on November 3, 2015 at 3:00 pm
No flies or fictional characters were harmed in the making of this post. All names of cast and crew have been disguised, but our story reflects real events that occurred on October 31st.
Reddit: A bastion of free speech
Carina Rutgers
Last modified on October 31, 2015 at 2:14 pm
“The front page of the internet” has to strike the balance between promoting free speech and running a for-profit platform that upholds certain moral standards
The Quirky-ness of Crowds
Patrick
Last modified on November 3, 2015 at 3:00 pm
The danger of handing your business over to a crowd that you can't control.
Beware of Ninja Turtles on 88th & 2nd
John R
Posted on November 1, 2015 at 8:02 pm
Allow anyone to report "sketchy" behavior? What could go wrong?
What’s in a name??
Caribou
Posted on October 31, 2015 at 2:32 pm
For companies trying to tap into the power of the crowd, naming contests can lead to embarrassment and PR disasters.
Working without even knowing it: ReCaptcha and Duolingo leverage unwitting crowds.
Won't Not
Last modified on November 3, 2015 at 3:00 pm
Founded by a Guatemalan crowdsourcing pioneer, ReCaptcha and Duolingo harness tiny bits of mindless human work to scan, categorize, and translate the Internet.
Let’s crowdsource the Constitution!
xyz
Last modified on October 31, 2015 at 11:30 pm
Could crowdsourcing shake up the future of legislation? Lessons from the failed crowdsourcing attempt in Iceland.
Quora – Capturing the Intelligence of the World
CY
Last modified on October 31, 2015 at 9:53 pm
Quora is a question-and-answer website created, edited, and organized by its community of users. It was started in June of 2009 by the former CTO of Facebook. The website has been open to public since 2010. “Our mission is to [...]
Crowdsourcing Fails (Durex, Mountain Dew, and NASA): Avoiding Internet Trolls
Faisal
Last modified on October 31, 2015 at 6:25 pm
Crowdsourcing can lead to significant marketing blunders that can leave organizations in precarious situations, especially when it comes to voting
GLG: Crowdsourcing Expertise
Starfish23
Posted on November 1, 2015 at 5:09 pm
GLG is the leading expert network firm in the world with over 400,000 experts on the network. The firm has been able to sell the expertise of its experts resulting in a highly lucrative business, with revenues of over $300M.
Fiverr – get anything done with $5
Jenny Chiu
Last modified on October 29, 2015 at 5:44 pm
While many use the platform to get task done cheaply, it needs to set stronger standard on the tasks to be sourced
Crowdsourcing At The U.S. Army
Jonathan T
Posted on October 31, 2015 at 8:12 pm
Crowdsourcing has permeated almost every industry, including the government. Notable examples of success in government include the community development of a 17-acre plot of land in Bristol Connecticut, a contest for community improvement in Birmingham Alabama, and user generated iPhone [...]
Thumbtack: Silicon Valley’s latest “unicorn”
Sherry
Last modified on October 26, 2015 at 6:10 pm
Thumbtack is using an innovative business model to capture value in the ~$800B local services market
CrowdSourcing The Constitution? Iceland Attempted Just That
CC24
Posted on November 1, 2015 at 6:05 pm
Are we ready to crowdsource government? Iceland's crowd sourced constitution experiment may point in that direction.
Genius: Annotating the World, One Rap at a Time
ahc
Last modified on October 30, 2015 at 1:25 am
Genius has leveraged a strong community management system and passionate fan base in its aim to "annotate the web". Whether they will be successful will depend on how they cross the chasm while maintaining its core brand.
Crowdsourcing Entertainment: has Amazon found the Magic Bullet for Content Creation?
H Li
Last modified on November 3, 2015 at 3:00 pm
This post examines the value creation and capture model of Amazon Studios in regards to its use of crowdsourcing and attempts to answer the question of whether crowdsourcing is the future of entertainment.
Yelp: An old dog may need a new trick soon
Allen Yang
Last modified on November 3, 2015 at 3:00 pm
Yelp was an early, prominent pioneer of online crowd-sourcing, but now that it's established, the value creation vs value capture balance might be off for its most loyal users.
Cat-Video Lover seeks Comedic Creator: YouTube’s Dominance in Crowd Management
Salem
Posted on October 27, 2015 at 11:24 am
YouTube: where the winners become international superstars and the losers still get to laugh at a drugged up kid on his way home from the dentist.
Cumplo.cl: Debt crowdfunding in Chile
Gonzalo
Last modified on October 31, 2015 at 3:31 pm
Cumplo.cl is a crowdfunding platform that is looking to increase access to the debt market at affordable rates for individuals and SMEs, but regulatory issues have come in their way.
The Hunt: Crowdsourcing Solutions for Fashion Missed-Connections
JL
Last modified on October 30, 2015 at 9:58 am
I first saw you crossing the street on 20th and Park by Gramercy Tavern. You were cropped and long sleeved with black and white stripes -- possibly cashmere.
Kiva: A crowdlending twist on traditional microfinance
AS
Last modified on October 30, 2015 at 7:21 pm
Kiva utilizes an innovative peer-to-peer crowdlending platform to enable budding entrepreneurs across the globe to access the funds they need to help themselves out of poverty.
Waze: Leveraging the Crowd to Find Your Way
Schwas
Last modified on October 22, 2015 at 8:06 pm
With the help of the crowd, Waze is rapidly enhancing the way we navigate.
Local Motors is crowd sourcing your next car
Matt
Posted on November 1, 2015 at 12:44 pm
Local Motors has created an innovative platform which designers and hobbyists interact to bring-to-market low-volume 3D-printed cars at a fraction of the cost of a traditional OEM's product development process
reCAPCHA: Crowdsourcing Intelligence
Rob C.
Posted on October 29, 2015 at 4:41 pm
reCAPCHA has digitized books and mapped the world with crowdsourcing... Now it uses humans' comparative advantage to crowdsource the creation of a truly intelligent computer.
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