Crowd Sourcing in Healthcare Industry

Recently, an informatics and healthcare research foundation called The  Regenstruef Institute affiliated with the Indiana University School of Medicine did a project together. They crowdsourcing from patients across the country to contribute their ideas to make healthcare a better quality. 
                           From this crowdsourcing activity, a huge number of patients focused on how to prevent disease rather than treatment of disease. They provide many valuable ideas and ways to improve obesity and cardiovascular disease. Some people focused on communication, education, and relationships in healthcare. 

In a recent survey, a customer said that the thing that bugs them most is going to a doctor with unclear information about a condition and treatment. A computer application developed based on this case. This App can translate what will happens during a doctor visiting into a print summary for patient to take home. It gives patient a clear idea about the details of their doctor appointment. 

This activity not only to identify problems that patients case about, but also give public a chance to engage in healthcare industry and science. Dr. Mike Weiner, director of the Institute's Center for Health Services Research says, "We're just one more example of the notion of crowdsourcing to identify some important agendas that may play a useful role in science. " Also, they plan to use more crowdsourcing in healthcare industry in the future. 

Idea Bounty - The Best Ideas Get Paid

While its hard to come up with new ideas, its even harder to find them. Idea Bounty provides clients and creatives alike a source to buy and sell their creative Crowd Sourcing ideas. Through their innovative and interactive site, companies can put up a bounty, offering a lump sum of money to reward the creative with the best idea to fit their needs. Companies include big names such as Red Bull, and BMW, along with smaller more localized businesses. Anyone looking to get that next best idea can get their start through Idea Bounty.

Get smarter ideas for less than what it would cost your research team. The latest Bounty has been put up by Hansa Pilsener, South Africa's 2nd largest beer brand. They are looking for a "Big Fresh" activation idea that will get consumers engaged with their brand and product. Coming up with an idea to serve their needs, you could walk away with $2000.

Just from browsing this site, Bounties seem to range anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to an astounding amount of $20,000. This one given by Disaronno, has been Idea Bounty's highest post to date.

Yes this site does require members to sign up in order to see what their options are, however it is well worth it to get the chance to explore this site. Whether you are a business looking to gather ideas, an entrepreneur looking to step out into the business world, or an internet browser interested in anything and everything, check it out for yourself and claim your bounty!

What do you think of crowdsourcing?

In this blog we talk a lot about crowd sourcing, and what it is. But,

What do you think of crowd sourcing? 

Is it effective? 

Can we trust the information? 

Take for instance TripAdvisor, the largest travel community in the world - with more than 32 million members, and over 100 million reviews. Do you trust the information you´re being given and have you considered that people have different assumptions of things? 

Does "The wisdom of the crowd" the world a better place? Is this a way to provide new opportunities to contribute, share and let one's voice be heard? Is it so that the new markets opening up provide opportunities for creativity, innovation and new ideas? Or should we listen to critics who say that this is just another way for the big global companies to leverage the crowd, giving them free access to the new information so that you get the most "customized" advertising and cheapest possible labor? Developments in this field are constantly changing, and you can probably see that both directions in evidence. But there is a tendency for increasing commercialization of the various services, so we'll just hope that community spirit will survive and that creativity will find new ways and new innovative ways to apply the principles of crowdsourcing on.

Just How Successful is Crowd Sourcing?

Although there are many positives and negatives in regard to crowd sourcing, what businesses and individuals might be most interested in is finding out is just how successful this idea is.

According to Dictionary.com, the definition of crowd sourcing is stated as "to utilize (labor, information, etc.) contributed by the general public to (a project), often via the Internet and without compensation." In some cases,  People rely on information from individuals that perhaps they have never even met before (such as Yahoo Answers), but in other cases, such as Facebook, people seek to either get an opinion or gain more knowledge from friends they may know very well. In instances such as asking questions just to hear opinions from others, success is not an issue. However, in many cases a wrong answer can make all the difference. For example, one form of crowd sourcing, known as crowd voting, occurs when websites gather views and opinions from individuals on a certain topic. Iowa Electronic Market, a prediction market that gathers crowds' views on politics, relies on factual information from their participants so that the Market can guarantee accuracy by forcing participants to buy and sell contracts based on the political options. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing

Another example of when success really counts in a business is seen in companies that acquire ideas and possible commercial ads from individuals with artistic abilities or knowledge. This occurred when L'Oreal chose a five minute ad segment sent in by an individual which cost them $1,000 to run as opposed to brainstorming the idea themselves and paying $164,200. In this case, L'Oreal was extremely successful in they way chose to carry out their ad-focused campaign strategy. http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-09-24/crowdsourcing

Criticism of Crowdsourcing.

We have been talking about crowdsourcing and the benefits, but not so much about the downsides and critique it has gotten..

One criticism of crowdsourcing is that only those with access to the right tools are able to contribute. Differences in access to technology means that some groups are favored, while others, who do not have access, or who do not master the digital technologies are excluded from participation. The same could apply to countries that have limited access to the Internet. One can then run the risk that "The power of the crowd" is only the voice of a few and that there is no real innovation, just a repetition of the ideologies of those already in power.

Another downside of crowdsourcing is that there may be a skewed power relations, where large companies, groups with money and power, can utilize smaller groups to do "slave labor" for themselves. Utilized social media users - in this case crowdsourcing webpages and platforms - in that they are "forced" to use the various portals and services, either because they have been "cheated" to store personal information social networking sites to be able to use the service, or because they are forced to do seemingly pointless micro tasks to earn money. The utilization applies to both implicitly contribute to crowdsourcing through the use of social media and search services, and those who are actively contributing to Wikipedia or a micro job site.

Want to Build a Crowdsourcing Application?

Crowdsourcing is a popular tool to get ideas, inspiration and feedbacks from other people.  More and more business owner want to develop a crowdsourcing application to benefit their business. The question is HOW? Let's follow Simon Willison's presentation "Building Crowdsourcing Applications"to get some tips. 

Tips for Building a Crowdsourcing Application:

• Consider usability, visual design and copy-right of your application. 
• To be Flexible-Users may not share the same goal with you. They may use the application in many different ways.  
• Encouragement-Something like medals and points will motivate users to do almost everything. 
• Don’t be afraid- Even flawed systems can produce a fascinating result. 
• Consider hard about the questions you ask.
• Let users have a minimal barrier to entry-Such as a simple registration process. 
• Do not forget to consider ethics, legal liability accuracy issues.

Click here to Listen to the Audio of Willison's presentation.  

Crowd Sourcing by the World's Best Brands

For those looking at big name Crowd Sourcing Initiatives that have happened in the past, look towards Crowd Sourcing by the World's Best Brands. This site has a unique timeline created by Yannig Roth, PhD student at Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne and Research Fellow at eYeka that shows how the world's most valuable brands use crowd sourcing. It is a great reference to gather and display information about many of the world's top brands and what contests they have offered in the past. Not only is it a blog database, but an opportunity in itself by allowing viewers to email Roth with new Crowd Sourcing Opportunities that haven't been added yet.

Spanning back to 2005, this database contains hundreds of contests proposed to the public for entry where you can look into more detail about the contests, what it entails and who won the competition.  Looking at the timeline as a whole Crowd Sourcing was not a prevalent medium to connect with the public from 2005 until the end of 2008. Once 2009 hit, the timeline becomes denser including more contests and a variety of more big brand names. Just to scratch the surface, some of the big names include: Google, Dell, Pepsi, Kia, American Express along with dozens more. Viewing the data from 2013 thus far, it is easy to see that this will be a great year of Crowd Sourcing opportunities. Some of the most recent marks on the timeline include opportunities that either are about to start or are open for submissions so this can also be used as a resource to find big name initiatives.

It's All About the People

If crowd sourcing was not an obvious benefit to the public, there is no way it would have grown to be so popular so soon. As much as companies need the public eye to help support their business, there is something in it for the people too. What is that something?

As we have mentioned already on this blog, Pinterest is a great example of a benefit to the public. Anyone who is a member can choose to follow people they know and are therefore constantly getting creative new ideas (crafts, DIY projects, recipes, clothing styles). At the same time, if Pinterest didn't have "pinners" the site would be nonexistent. Another great example that is used often is Yahoo Answers, or other websites that use this form of communication. Here, a person posts a question either anonymously or naming themselves and then await an answer from anyone with knowledge on the subject and willing to help. American Idol and The X factor are also both great examples of people participating in crowd sourcing to benefit themselves. Yes the shows desperately needs participants to try out so that they may weed out the weak from the strong. However, most people try out for the show in hopes of making a name for themselves, and if the show is lucky, making a name for them for their company as well.

When considering the benefits of crowd sourcing, it's clear to see that it truly is a benefit to all sides.  When the two are working well together, everyone is happy and maybe even successful!

Crowd sourcing is everywhere...... (?)

As you are reading this blog, you might have started to think about whether or not this blog is relevant for you. We are trying to reach out to all kinds of people - people who just are interested in crowd sourcing, people who wants to know how to use crowd sourcing, small companies, big companies and people who wants to know about its effectiveness. The list goes on. But if you are like me, Alex, Camille and Coco - Just college students trying to learn more about it.
Then I have a question for you.

Have you ever used crowd sourcing?
As your brain starts to speed up, you should might consider this: Crowd sourcing is everywhere! In different types, they are all over. You ask your friends what they think about the new pair of jeans your just bought. You are seeking their opinion..

Second, have you ever colored your hair and wondering if it was the right color for you, or wondered where to go on vacation and asked your friends on Facebook; "Should I stay brunette, or should I go back to blonde?" "Does anyone have a recommendation on where I should go for vacation this summer?" All of this is crowd sourcing, and we are using them almost everyday!

Crowd Sourcing Challeges

While this blog has shown a variety of industries who apply this Crowd Sourcing to their business model, people should also seek out ways to get involved. While businesses are looking for insights to grow their own work, one can still seek these out, not just for personal gain but to offer value to something you care about. This could even be the foot in the door to employment in some cases. Below you will find some Crowd Sourcing Challenges proposed to find new and innovative ideas. It would also be greatly appreciated to get your input on these opportunities. Feel free to either comment with your thoughts or any Crowd Sourcing Challenges you have found.

The listed Crowd Sourcing Challenges are found at Challenge.gov focused on Government Agencies.

"The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards recognize innovative technologies that incorporate green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture and use, and help advance protection of human health and the environment.

Green chemistry is the design of chemical products or processes that reduce both the generation and use of chemicals that are hazardous to the environment or people’s health. Nominations for innovative technologies feature the design of greener chemicals, synthesis, or reactions.

Nominations may cover any technology, but EPA is particularly interested in receiving nominations on approaches or technologies that reduce or eliminate the need for brominated flame retardant chemicals. EPA anticipates recognizing five award winning green chemistry technologies this fall.

Award nominations are due to EPA by April 30, 2013."

Source: Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards 2013

"To stimulate innovations in energy storage technologies of value in extreme space environments and in renewable energy systems on Earth—

• demonstrate a high energy density storage systems that meet the demands imposed by the daylight/darkness cycle on the Moon to enable a rover to operate throughout the lunar darkness cycle
• Energy system innovations to benefit terrestrial applications, including vehicles and renewable energy generation systems.

Dates are approximate at this time and will be finalized at time of registration and rules announcement.

 The prize purse is $1.5 million. Detailed rules and plans will be announced in the coming months.  The competition is expected to occur in early 2014. More information at www.NightRover.org and www.nasa.gov/challenges

Important dates

Submission Period:

Start: Feb 01, 2013 12:00 AM EST End: Oct 25, 2013 10:00 PM EDT

Winners announced:

Apr 01, 2014 10:00 PM EDT"

Source: Night Rover Challenge 2014

"Additionally, The ISS Fit challenge is to design, develop and produce an iPad app that will allow International Space Station crewmembers to easily enter and track food items.  It is your job to develop an app to identify the user, track dietary intake, and provide a timestamp of when the food was consumed.   We need a more detailed log of dietary intake so that we can better understand the role of nutrition in spaceflight, and provide better dietary recommendations to help mitigate the negative physiological effects of spaceflight.  The app could take photos of the foods, use a voice recorder option, provide an easy way to enter foods manually or by creating an interactive voice command system.

Important dates

Submission Period:

Start: Feb 10, 2013 09:00 AM EST End: Jul 01, 2013 05:00 PM EDT"

Source: Nasa Iss Fit Food Intake Tracker Ipad App Challenge

How is Crowdsourcing on Pinterest Benefit Your Business

A right social media can be a really effective crowdsourcing tool for your business. 

One of the hottest crowdsourcing social media in the market is Pinterest;

How Does Pinterest Work?

Think Pinterest as an online pin board that everyone can generate ideas and visions. Pinterest has almost every categories from food to home, design to fashion, and gardening to humor. Business owner can easily to target customers by using different categories. It is extremely easy to share things on your board. You can pin everything from you electronic devices and other websites also re-pin other people's pin. Click on one pin, it will lead you to the source website directly. By this way, your product can be dispersed quickly and easily. 

Inspiration 

Pinterest can work for double ways. As well as you share items with others to generate your business, you can also see what other users are sharing at the same time. You can get some inspirations for you own business. Also, it helps you to have a better understanding of the market. You can determining trends and the most popular things in the market and develop your products. 

Market Your Product

Pinterest is not an online shop, but when you pin your product on your board with a price tag and the link to your website. Your product will go on the Pinterest gift page automatically. This will increase traffic to your site and generate business. 

Other Benefits

Like other social networks, Pinterest helps you to interact with others. You can understand the market by read and respond comments on your post. By using social media, every internet user become your potential customers. It is a free platform for you to develop your business. 

Photo Credit: http://www.basekit.com/how-pinterest-could-benefit-your-businessOther Source: http://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/2013/02/06/use-the-right-social-media-for-your-crowdsourced-projects/http://www.basekit.com/how-pinterest-could-benefit-your-business

SAS and their use of crowd sourcing

SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) is one of the first airline companies to use crowd sourcing. They have successfully been using it in order to gain knowledge of what their customers want when they are traveling with them.

For the summer of 2012, they launched a crowd sourcing campaign - "The Summerplane 2012" by asking their customers the simple question "Where should we fly?" They invited people to go to their website and suggest a new destination.
They received the amount of 850 different destinations and the top 10 most popular ones where possible to vote n through Facebook. In one week they received more than 5000 votes and the destination with the most votes where Alanya in Turkey, and SAS now fly there twice a week.

Furthermore, they decided to "crowd source everything", by developing My SAS Idea they reached out to all of their customers. The idea was launched June 13th 2012, and within the first 6 days they got 500+ members, 400+ ideas and 2000+ votes. 
My SAS idea is open to customers as well as employees. One benefit is that the employees has their own portal and can go in and check out internal ideas. Only the most popular ideas will be evaluated by SAS. This is a super creative way which creates a buzz and  a good tool to communicate with your customers. 

Global Companies Taking Advantage of Crowd Sourcing

Sure crowd sourcing sounds like a great idea, but is it effective? Do companies even use crowd sourcing? The answer is yes and yes. Companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, IBM, Microsoft, General Electric, even Google all take advantage of crowd sourcing. What these companies all have in common is that fact that they are all global companies. Coincidence? Most likely not, these companies appreciate the idea of receiving feedback and ideas from individuals and customers. A company is only as successful as their customers make it, and becoming a globally successful company requires a great deal of research into different parts of the world, including seeking out information pertaining to the specifics of where their customers are coming to them from. 

Coca-Cola takes advantage of crowd sourcing by holding contests where individuals may create and send in a video/animation contest for their Coke-Zero product. IBM on the other hand hosts meetings called innovation jams where people come from countries and companies all over the world just to brainstorm areas the company could improve upon. In their largest jam session, IBM had more than 150,000 people come help support the company. In one of the most simplest form s of crowd sourcing available, Microsoft began what they referred to as a 'crowd sourcing blog' where some of the company's developers wanted to start up a discussion with the public getting their opinions on Windows 8. Google also has become well known in the crowd sourcing aspect of allowing individuals to send in video contests and have asked for videos including ideas for promoting Google Chrome, as well as videos promoting Google tools. GE constantly seeks information from individuals regarding eco-friendly ideas for their company. And finally, McDonald's held a contest requesting real pictures of individuals to be used on their products.

Source:http://news.eyeka.net/2012/03/the-6-best-global-brands-use-creative-crowdsourcing/

Photo Credits:  http://www.freshnetworks.com/blog/2011/03/coca-cola-cut-ad-spend-and-invest-more-in-socia-medi/
 http://www.bubblews.com/news/80632-mind-blowing-facts-about-mcdonald039s

Starbucks: My Starbucks Idea

A customer is the person who understands your brand best and has the most valuable ideas. Crowdsourcing is an effective way to collect customers ideas. Starbucks applies this idea to a website called "My Starbucks Idea", where Starbucks customers all around the world can share their experiences and ideas about how to improve Starbucks products and services. Also, "My Starbucks Idea" allows customers to vote and leave comments for other people's idea.

 

Starbucks divided all ideas into three major categories, product ideas, experience idea, and involvement ideas.  This way, Starbucks can understand customer satisfaction for each category and improve customer satisfaction by implement the most popular and useful ideas in their business. Customers can see all the implemented ideas under the tab "IDEAS IN ACTION". It makes customers feel that Starbucks really cares about customers' feeling and encourages more customers to engage in this online community. 

Starbucks uses "My Starbucks Idea" as a tool to understand customers needs. It is also a great example to combine the concept of crowdsourcing and marketing research together. 

"My Starbucks Idea" Link: http://mystarbucksidea.force.com

Other Source: http://dailycrowdsource.com/20-resources/projects/93-starbucks-crowdsources-ideas-to-understand-customer-needs

http://www.digitalsparkmarketing.com/customer-focus/customer-insights/business-crowdsourcing/

Photo credit: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/3-rewards-and-3-risks-of-making-customers-brand-ambassadors/

- Coco Liu

Crowd Sourcing Week Start-up Challenge

Making its debut for the first time this June 2013; Crowd Sourcing Week is a 5 day excursion of events focused on how "Crowds" are taking business models to new heights, collaborating and innovating at the enterprise level. Hosted in Singapore, a variety of speakers have donated their time to build upon this event.With more than 30 sessions planned that feature case studies, keynotes and panel discussions businessmen around the world can look to this week as a productive one. They also have themes dedicated to each day. I expect this to be a great opportunity for both learning and networking. As of right now they have a brief overview of what is to be expected at this event, but based on the array of speakers and topics covered throughout we can expect a show. As the event comes closer, we will learn more. 

Schedule:

Day 1: Government, Architecture & Urban Planning

Day 2: Marketing, Advertising, Design and Media

Day 3: Healthcare, Science and Technology

Day 4: Crowdfunding & New Business Models + Startup Competition

Day 5: Tourism, New Product Development, Fashion & Film

Along with the exhibitions, a competition sponsored by RocketHub, allows entrepreneurs all over the globe are invited to pitch their innovative business plans to earn $30,000 to get off the ground. The top three finalists will be featured at this years Crowd Sourcing Week. RocketHub, like Kickstarter is a pledge-driven Crowd Funding website that looks to help regular people get their start by giving them a platform to raise money. Through RocketHub, the applicants are tasked to submit their business plans and will be picked by a panel of venture capitalists and start-up mentors for which they believe have the most potential for success. 

If you are interested in attending this event, getting involved, submitting a business plan or learning more about what they have to offer feel free to visit crowdsourcingweek.com.

Also if you're interested in keeping connected with their blog visit Crowd Sourcing Week Blog.

Types of Crowd Sourcing

Several forms of crowd sourcing are available to anyone and everyone. Whether you're trying to start up a business, need helpful ideas and insight, or simply looking to seek advice from the public, crowd sourcing is for you. 

 

Darren Stevens, (http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/what-is-crowdsourcing/) classified crowdsourcing into three main categories; crowd funding, crowd sourced design, and crowd wisdom. Here is a little information on each of the different types.

There are several different forms of crowd sourcing that exist, all extremely beneficial. The first, crowd funding, consist of companies that use crowd sourcing to obtain money from people who voluntarily pool their money together in order provide money to the company they wish to support. Some examples include everything from disaster relief to funding need for a new start up company.

Another form of crowd sourcing is known as crowd sourced design (creative crowd source). Crowd sourced design allows companies that may be low on resources or in scarce supply to obtain contextual opinions, or helpful information in regard to the design of a company's website. Crowd source design allows the community to feel engaged in supporting their company of choice.

Crowd wisdom takes advice, information, and basic wisdom from individuals willing to contribute any knowledge they may have on a subject and submit it to a website in order to answer questions. Crowd wisdom can be beneficial in the fact that it takes into account the wisdom from a crowd of individuals rather than getting the information from a single expert. That way individuals can compare the responses a crowd provides to the expert in order to come to a well thought out conclusion.

Photo Credit: Introducing Crowdsourcing http://www.thinketc.com/introducing-crowdsourcing/

How to be successful using crowdsourcing within your company.

Anneli: Are you like me, curious of what crowdsourcing is and how you can use it in your company? 

Jeff Howe, who is defined as the creator of crowdsourcing after an article he wrote for Wired Magazine in 2006, defines crowdsourcing as "Crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined network of people in the form of an open call."
 

Why use crowdsourcing?

• Involve your customers in developing new product
• Show off new products early
• Ask for advice and input
• Customers will feel ownership of your products and services
• New ideas can come from outside your company (external)
• Interesting and powerful way of market new products

6 tips on how to be successful in crowdsourcing

1. Make something interesting to make your customers involve
2. Make it easy for them to involve
3. Engage the CEO
4. Anchoring throughout the organization
5. A plan to deal with ideas internally
6. Success stories

To gain more knowledge I have attached a Youtube video where crowdsourcing is explained more detailed.

Kick-Starting Entrepreneurs with Kickstarter

Entrepreneurs and businessmen alike, have you been looking to get that dream of yours off the ground but haven't been able to get your start? It's time to get kicked into gear!

Kickstarter.com is one of the newest, most innovative sites I have seen that takes advantage of Crowd Sourcing. You could also take a spin on Crowd Sourcing and refer to it as Crowd Funding. For those of you who have already found it I applaud you and encourage you to continue to offer your support. For those of you who unaware of this site I encourage you to check it out.

Kickstarter is a fundraising platform where people pitch their entrepreneurial ideas, services and products to those viewing the site through videos, displays and other presentation means in order to get people to fund their project. These projects can include anything from fundraising enough money to produce a band's first album, to designing a new product that could improve our way of life. Categorized in everything from Art, to Food, to Technology anyone who wants to get their start, this site could offer their big break all assuming it appeals to the audience enough to donate to the cause. One of the great things about this site is that it's not limited to those with a plethora of money, the site allows you to donate as little as $1 to support whatever cause you think is worth it. Although it is set up that the more money you do donate the more perks you receive back. For example if a band was trying to get enough money to produce their first album, for the $2 donation, they would receive one of their tracks as a gift whereas if someone was able to provide $10 to the cause they could send multiple tracks, along with a signed poster of the band. Things like this give more incentive for people to contribute their financial support.

This site has two key entry points; one for the project creator and the other for the investor. Both are necessary, the project creator, along with the investor or in other words the Crowd that is Funding the project. If one is to raise funds the traditional way, it is hard and will take a long time to produce the money to support your project. Kickstarter gives every project creator an opportunity to let every Internet user to become a potential investor. Project creators are able to gain feedback as well from potential investors on ways to improve their proposition, so even if they don't achieve their goal the first time around they might be able to use that feedback to try again.

Simply browsing Kickstarter is a great way to brainstorm and gather new ideas and I would encourage you to do so. You never know, Kickstarter could give you that kick you need to get started on your own business endeavor.

You were just Crowd Sourced

Crowd Sourcing...Why do we care? I think the real question is: Why should you care? By being here, you were just Crowd Sourced. Every time you visit a site, whether that's viewing, reading, commenting, sharing, interacting or even leaving, you have added some sort of value to that page. You can bring value with just the click of a button at no cost to me. Realistically, one couldn't necessarily say no cost was made because of the time spend putting into this, and you could always argue that time is money, but relatively there was no money pulled out of some lonely wallet on a desk in order to bring this blog to you. Either way Crowd Sourcing can be an effective marketing practice and shouldn't be taken lightly.

You can think of Crowd Sourcing as the practice of people (i.e., Crowds) offering value to an idea, product or service based on a business' technologies and formatted systems because of some foreseen personal value. In other words it's you, the people who offer their services in order to improve or better a certain aspect of a business or group's inner workings because you find some value in it yourself.

To highlight some thoughts on the process of Crowd Sourcing:

The Internet has generated a whole new world for the Crowd Sourcing practice. Think about all those websites that gain user generated content at little to no cost to them and are in turn able to create a profit. Some of those being: eBay, Amazon, or YouTube. However, Crowd Sourcing isn't left only to the Internet.

One of the biggest offenders, and also one of the biggest trend setters of the new millennium has been American Idol. Since the early 2000's they have created such a following that we have been able to witness such acts as Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Jordin Sparks make their way to stardom. This all because they were willing to sign themselves up for a televised competition. It was the fact that they set their business up in a way in which the talent came to them, they had nothing to lose. They were able to take advantage of people wanting their ticket to stardom. American Idol has now spawned shows like The Voice, Dancing with the Stars and America's Got Talent. It's not just the fact that the talent is coming to them, but how they also get the people involved. Allowing the viewers to vote on their favorites only reinforces the security of their business, because now people are invested because their vote had a say in the results and they will be voting on who they would like to hear next.

Time is money, and when you can get other people to invest that time towards your cause, that is money.