Will Crowdsourcing Continue to Evolve in 2011?

January 10, 2011 By Aminda

2010 may be considered the year crowdsourcing really came into its own, even meriting a nomination for Word of the Year.

Since crowdsourcing itself is no longer new and exciting, in 2011 brands will have to figure out ways to leverage crowdsourcing in product design, while maintaining a strong brand identity, according to the NextWeb blog. What other changes are in store for the practice of crowdsourcing in 2011?

Business News Daily tapped an impressive roster of experts to compile their list of 50 big ideas and trends for 2011 and crowdsourcing factored significantly into their forecasts. One trend foreseen is the continued growth and acceptance of crowdfunding— an industry that is maturing as social media venues expand and people recognize the power of the crowd and how to utilize and monetize their personal networks, as well as the Internet community as a whole.

Crowdsourcing may continue to change the workforce as more and more people are doing  crowdsourced work as a source of income, including the solopreneur, highly skilled men and women who hire themselves out rather than continuing on in traditional, full-time employment. Another factor driving this trend is the acceptance of virtual offices and co-working, ways for savvy small-business owners and entrepreneurs to have access to enterprise level amenities at a fraction of the cost.

These factors will in turn lead to growth in market share and sophistication of crowdsourcing marketplaces.  In 2010, the top two design crowdsourcing marketplaces (crowdSPRING and 99designs) together paid well over $1 million dollars monthly to thousands of designers from around the world. But they are having to evolve to stay competitive against newcomers like evly. For example, crowdSPRING now allows companies to put together  focus group-type voting.

 

These sites are also continuing to prove that the world is flat—rendering geography irrelevant obtaining creative work. One of the factors that has some concerned that crowdsourcing will continue to drive down wages for skilled workers— something of a negative trend.

What do you think– will the continuation of crowdsourcing have a negative or positive impact? What industries or practices will crowdsourcing bring change to in 2011?


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Reader Comments


Hi,

Brilliant ideas and your post is very nice. You have describe the Crowdsourcing in good way and it can be a another way of growing the business and source of income. you can also share your ideas and experiecne on Crowdsource
Posted by Crowdsource on July 5, 2011

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