Has crowdsourcing jumped the shark?

Crowdsourcing has entered the mainstream big-time. It has become daunting to find a brand these days that does NOT have some crowdsourcing program in place.

My Starbucks Idea is just the latest example: Starbucks asks its consumers for advice, and besides certainly receiving a lot of good ideas, the troubled coffee chain makes consumers feel part of the brand remake.

It's the same template as usual: engage your community, harness its creativity, and let it create the content for you.

It works, sure, but it's getting stale. For some reason, marketing trends take two to three years before they are fully embraced, but if they are, then they become annoyingly ubiquitous (remember the "Tipping Point"?).

The reason is simple: Marketing executives are notoriously risk-averse (Seth Godin once reckoned that only if you're willing to put your job on the line will you do something truly innovative in marketing), and a model like crowdsourcing provides the right balance between safety net ("many others are doing it") and cutting edge ("crowdsourcing?" the CEO shrugged).

Crowdsourcing was a disruptive innovation two years ago, but now it's time to innovate crowdsourcing. It is a viable trend that has implications far beyond the marketing profession, but someone needs to take it to the next level.

So in the spirit of crowdsourcing, let me ask you: in the next stage, what could be a more innovative application of crowdsourcing?

[miroslodki]

Ironic<br />using crowdsourcing to troll for new ideas on crowdsourcing?<br /><br />There is nothing inherently innovative about crowdsourcing - its a dialogue, a suggestion box, focus group, weekend brainstorming retreat... wrapped in a new technological package<br /><br />payment for ideas will be the big topic for discussion - just as open source - perhaps the biggest evolutionary example of 'crowdsourcing' out there.<br /><br />Cheers <br />Miro<br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://miroslodki.wordpress.com" target="_newWindow">http://miroslodki.wordpress.com</a><br /><br />PS presuming a 10cent per word fee<br />I figure you owe me a crowdsourcing fee of $5.30 ;-)

[davetitle]

I think we need to see the difference between "crowdsourcing" and basically leaving out a suggestion box. Asking people how you're doing isn't crowdsourcing.

[ctfoley]

crowdsourcing should not be led, and filtered by, corporations. it should be led by the crowd.

[miroslodki]

True - it is more involved and interactive than a suggestion box<br />because the channel facilitates it<br /><br />but one of the basic functions of crowdsourcing is to solicit feedback<br />to a problem - exactly what a suggestion box accomplishes<br /><br />put the suggestion box answers on a bulletin board and let people see and comment on it and there is no difference

[afhill]

"someone needs to take it to the next level."<br /><br />See <a href="http://www.theopenbrand.com">theopenbrand.com</a>. :)