December 8, 2015

The Power of Crowds

To follow the conversation on Twitter, use #TracxCrowds

Conversation Analysis

Reinhardt Schuhmann, Product Manager, Tracx

Conversation Analysis

Identifying Crowdsourcing

What is it?

•  Crowdsourcing is defined as soliciting contributions from large crowds

•  It has been around for many years, and has evolved along with technology

•  One of the most powerful platforms for crowdsourcing is social media

Identifying Crowdsourcing

Before The Internet

•  1714 - The Longitude Prize •  The British Government offered the

public a monetary prize to come up with a method for measuring a ship’s longitude. John Harrison succeeded.

•  1884 – The Oxford English Dictionary •  Created from an open call for

volunteers to contribute words in the English language with quotations that included examples of their usage.

Early Examples of Crowdsourcing

The Internet has led to an explosion of crowdsourcing opportunities.

•  Open source software paved the way for the types of crowdsourcing we see today

•  Starting in 1991, Linus Torvalds crowdsourced much of the architecture behind the Linux OS, which now powers roughly 40% of the world’s servers.

•  Widespread Internet adoption, in particular social media, has eroded the barriers to organizing without organizations.

•  Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.

Crowdsourcing Today

•  Deeply impacts research and development •  Businesses better understand the needs of their

customers •  Cuts costs and breeds innovation

Crowdsourcing Purposes

•  A group of people gets a higher sense of belonging and becomes more active if it works together on achieving a task

•  Individuals within a group feed off each other’s energy and conversation, sparking engagement and the free flowing of ideas

•  Diverse minds do better than expert minds when their decisions are averaged*

Why Crowdsource

*In groups of 40 or more, the crowd response is better than 99% of participants. http://www.wired.com/insights/2014/01/crowdsourcing-2014-great-power-comes-great-responsibility/

Various types of Crowdsourcing

Crowdfunding What is it? •  Crowdfunding is the result of

many people funding a project with small amounts of money

•  Kickstarter, a popular crowdfunding platform, is a main benefactor to the arts; 50% of projects have been successfully funded

•  Crowdfunding platforms leverage human desires to participate in a common goal, and reduce the costs associated with making a concept a reality.

Types of Crowdsourcing

Crowdfunding Examples •  The ALS Association’s Ice Bucket Challenge; results: In six weeks, they raised

$112 million in donations, and over the course of one year, they amassed $2.5 million

•  The movie Veronica Mars was the one of the highest grossing crowdfunded projects with a goal of $2 million; results: 91,585 backers pledged over $5.5 million

Types of Crowdsourcing

Crowd Advertising

What is it? •  Sourcing an audience for TV spots or

creative for print ads, among other forms of advertising or campaigns with video

•  Examples: Pepsi and Doritos, Super Bowl commercials

•  Gives full creative control to the audience

•  Cost-saving tactic •  Greatly engages audience/fans/

customers

Types of Crowdsourcing

Crowd Coding What is it? Crowdsourcing a coder community for help to solve problems •  Harvard Clinical and Translational

Science Center collaborated with Topcoder

•  They crowdsourced coding that its own scientists were challenged with

•  Results: 122 solvers each submitted a viable solution

•  Many of the solutions outdid the ones developed by Harvard scientists & the National Institutes of Health

Types of Crowdsourcing

Crowd Labor

What is it? Breaking down unwanted tasks into smaller, micro-tasks, such as data entry, transcribing, and taking surveys •  Pairs businesses with requesters who

compete for tasks at a defined price and time frame

•  Connects the collaborative nature of the Internet

Types of Crowdsourcing

Crowd Labor Examples

•  Fiverr: Sources digital tasks such as logo design, and other graphics-oriented jobs for only five dollars each

•  CNN’s iReport: Citizen engagement program in which people submit local news (images, text, and video) and happenings through utilizing #iReport

•  Creatives like writers are becoming fed up with the low pay, yet there are still many who participate

Types of Crowdsourcing

“The value of transactions over platforms such as car services Lyft and Uber, grocery delivery service Instacart, courier service Postmates, and others could grow as large as $10 billion this year,” reveals reporter Sarah Kessler on Fast Company’s website.

Crowdsourcing: Who’s Doing it Right?

Who’s Doing it Right?

Successful Crowdfunding

Starbucks: mystarbucksidea.com •  The platform allows for customers to work

with Starbucks employees called “Idea Partners”, and polls them for feedback on existing products or new product ideas

Who’s Doing it Right?

Successful Crowdfunding

IBM: used the incentive of money to get their employees to vote for ideas based on their donations (money allocated from different departments) •  After applying the principle to various departments, they amassed an

enormous amount of data. •  Crowdsourcing has become a core strategy at IBM

Who’s Doing it Right?

Successful Crowdfunding

UBER: a form of crowd labor, the Uber platform is a simple and easy to use mobile application that allocated drivers and their cars for a taxi service •  UBER doesn’t actually own their assets •  Anyone with a driver’s license and a

car can apply to be a driver (they are then vetted)

•  Customers are charged on their credit card, avoiding any cash exchange and saving time

Who’s Doing it Right?

Successful Crowdfunding

airbnb: sources crowds in over 190 countries to offer their home for rent, in lieu of a hotel for travelers •  Pairs travelers and hosts, who earn extra income; travelers benefit by staying in

comfortable homes and interacting with locals •  1.2 million listings and growing, the company has served over 35 million

travelers

Leveraging Social Data for Crowdsourcing

Leveraging Social Data

•  Crowds already exist; businesses don’t necessarily need to create crowdsourcing campaigns

•  Mining existing information as opposed to seeking it out is an option •  Existing information such as social data can reveal powerful intelligence

through the use of a social management and monitoring platform

How it’s Done

Leveraging Social Data

Monitoring social media conversations, reviews and comments can help discover answers to questions that brands are asking about how their

customers use their product(s) and what can be better about it.

Crowd Insights

What is it? Mining crowd data to learn valuable information about a group. •  Made possible by the rise of digital and

social technology •  Rather than ask the crowd to provide a

specific answer or result, this process seeks to learn new things from the crowd’s organic activity.

•  Data analyzed can be conversational, behavioral, or related to how people organize and connect.

A New Type of Crowdsourcing

Leveraging Social Data

•  Social data allows businesses to measure messaging and ad performance helps marketing to determine the efficacy of its efforts

•  New product ideas and feedback can be applied through social data analysis and

insights

Leveraging Social Data

•  Applying social data can help businesses identify missed opportunities, which can reveal how they are faring compared to the competition

•  Through sentiment analysis from social data, consumer preferences can be measured

•  Social data goes beyond being a marketing tool, and should fall into the hands of research and development teams as well as product managers

Is Crowdsourcing Right for All?

Right for All?

•  Having a problem that cannot be solved internally? •  A need to create a buzz? •  Working against the clock? •  Are looking for diversity in ideas? •  Have budget constraints?

Questions to Ask

How to Approach Crowdsourcing

How?

•  Dedicate resources •  Work with a trusted partner •  Stay humble – the crowd may have better ideas •  Choose an appropriate and relevant audience

How?

•  Understand your audience to motivate participation •  Use video or imagery to capture the crowd’s attention •  If possible, offer an incentive – monetary or otherwise •  Be sure your task and goal are clearly conveyed •  Give feedback as the crowd submits responses – stay engaged

Q & A

Thank you www.tracx.com info@tracx.com