Crowdsourcing is behind the next stage of human evolution

Have you ever wondered what it is about some of pop culture's super successes (American Idol, YouTube and Wikipedia as examples) that completely captivates all of us? Well the reason that we rant and rave about them is because they utilize a concept called Crowdsourcing. The word Crowdsourcing was coined in 2006 by Jeff Howe but has been utilized as a concept for quite a long time now. So what is it? Crowdsourcing is essentially allowing a large, diverse group to decide an outcome/create a product/solve a problem opposed to allowing a small group of experts make the decision(s). Statistics prove that 90% of the time, the group (who doesn't have any expertise in any one area) will outperform the experts in practically any situation. Let me quote an example from Jeff's book, "Crowdsourcing" to make it more clear:

The television show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" rewards it's contestants with 1 million dollars if they can correctly answer 15 multiple choice questions. The contestants are given 3 lifelines to help them if they are stumped (1) 50/50 (2) Ask the Audience or (3) Ask an Expert or Phone a friend - who is considered to be an expert by the contestant. After going back and reviewing the outcomes from all of the episodes, it was determined that the experts gave the correct answer 65% of the time, while the audience was correct 91% of the time. Now let's take a specific question asked on the show to determine why that is:

Question: Whether sherpas and gerkas are native to:

A. Nepal
B. Ecuador
C. Morocco
D. Russia

For this particular question, only 4% of the audience knew the correct answer. So breaking that down even further by applying basic math and random guessing principles, 24% of the audience guessed (B), 24% guessed (C) and 24% guessed (D), but 28% guessed the correct answer, which is (A) (Nepal). The wrong answers will always cancel themselves out leaving that 4% to predict the correct answer the vast majority of the time.

Now that you understand what the basic concept behind Crowdsourcing is, let's look at the pop culture successes listed above and see how they have successfully applied the concept:

American Idol: The show has a panel of judges (Simon, Paula, Randy and a guest judge) to determine who makes it to Hollywood from the first round of contestants, but leaves the decision making up to the show's viewing audience from that point on until a winner is chosen. They use this method for two reasons: (1) Audience Empowerment. The audience can actually participate in the show by voting themselves, rather than just watching the subjective viewpoints of the panel to determine the outcome. Plus, as the example given above states, the crowd is almost always the better judge in determining which contestants should move on to the next round, thus creating quality content and keeping it's viewers coming back for more. (2) Exponentially greater revenues. Not only does the large viewing audience create revenue through advertising dollars, but it also assures that they continue to generate revenue after the show is over. They are assured a greater probability of success that the record deals that the top contestants receive (post show), to which American Idol receives a portion of, will generate the greatest revenues for them as well. After all, who better to determine what album that they would buy than the viewers themselves?

YouTube: I personally can't think of a more successful Web 2.0 application myself. YouTube allows it's users to submit their own videos to it's website and let's them determine which ones are the most popular by displaying a view count. The most viewed videos are typically the ones held in the highest level of value by the aggregate community, propelling some of it's users to an almost rockstar status. Think about it, you don't have to have a degree or any level of experience whatsoever to submit a video. Just a computer and a video camera. You are judged not by your credentials, but by the quality of your content. Anyone can become an overnight sensation with simply a great idea. I have even recently heard that YouTube shares it's advertising revenues with users whose videos have generated 1 million or more views. Again we come back to another example of an entity enabling it's community and driving the highest quality content as a result.

Wikipedia: Simply put, it's a crowdsourced encyclopedia created by the world. Not only does the community submit the topics, they also help to improve upon existing topics by submitting their own content to compliment what is already there (Open Source in it's truest form). Anyone can learn about practically any topic without having to look too hard. Wikipedia has done wonders for non institutional education and will continue to revolutionize and evolve over time. Just like the two examples above, we slowly beginning to see a trend arising at an alarming rate which is taking the power away from small groups of experts and putting decision making and innovation in the hands of the community itself.

These are just a few examples of the many crowdsourcing projects currently going on in the world around us. The concept can be applied to practically any situation in life and it's time to start educating people about how it will change the world (both how we do business and live in general). There is still much we have to learn in regards to best practices, but that will come through trial and error. I want to challenge anyone who is reading this blog to attempt to apply this concept to some area of your life (community organization, new product development or even the betterment of humanity - I saw one group using the concept to address world hunger). I am working on a project myself and I will continue to blog on this topic as I learn more and develop my own set of best practices.