Understanding What’s New in Crowdsourcing
As crowdsourcing continues to take hold for business and industry as a viable way to get work done, keeping up with the latest developments can prove challenging. New sites have launched that provide you with new ways to get work done, obtain feedback and input, or accomplish other tasks using the power of the crowd. Here are a few of the new entries to the crowdsourcing landscape and how you can leverage them for your own business.
Get Input and Feedback with a Custom Evly Site
Evly has launched a build-it-yourself tool to make your own custom crowdsourcing social network. For free, you can build a site based on one of their templates for a variety of crowdsourcing activities including sourcing ideas, finding answers, seeking solutions, requesting advice, and soliciting designs. Soon you’ll be able to gather monetary support—known as crowdfunding.
Creating your crowdsourcing site on Evly consists of choosing a name, a theme, and answering several questions related to the type of crowdsourcing activity for which you want to build a template, then customizing your site before you launch it. For example, if you choose “Ideas” you can then narrow your needs down to business, projects, or startups ideas; who will be sourcing information—just you or your crowd as well; if there are to be deadlines to requests for input; and whether or not you want comments or voting functionality in your network to facilitate crowd input. Once you launch it, you can promote it to your existing networks and through social networks then use the Evly tools to capture the discussions and contributions from your crowd rather than relying on spreadsheets and ad-hoc tracking systems.
Tap Crowd-Powered Workforces with Microtask and CrowdWorks
Two companies that provide crowdsourcing services through their own proprietary systems are CrowdWorks, based in the UK, and Microtask, out of Finland. Both offer various services to help you get work done. Microtask offers form processing and archive digitization, and the company can also analyze your work process and offer custom solutions to integrate their system into yours. Crowdworks focuses on the collaborative process as a way of solving business problems. The company offers services such as market research as well as more internal applications for crowdsourcing including team collaboration and employee feedback platforms. You need to contact each company directly for a demo or pricing.
Get Funding For Your Startup Idea with SeedUps
A European-based company that is looking to have a U.S. version later this year is called SeedUps. You can join the SeedUps community, submit your business idea, then invite the crowd to fund it so you can start it. SeedUps is different from a site like Kickstarter because it focuses on business funding while Kickstarter focuses on funding creative projects. Signing up is free for entrepreneurs. Your business idea is called an “Opportunity SnapShot” on the site, and you can opt to add an informational video profile. Your submission will then be matched to investors who may have related interest or experience. You specify the funding you require then can begin interacting with investors via webinars. The system sets a fair valuation to your business that you can accept or decline. If you accept, a term sheet is prepared for all parties to sign, then you receive funds in your company bank account.
Be Part of a Crowd Helping Government with Challenge.gov
Uncle Sam is leveraging the value of crowds and offering challenges worth over $15 million in prizes for the year to participants. Challenge.gov turns the tables on crowdsourcing to let you or your company be part of the crowd. Through the site, you can participate in solving problems or work on projects that come from departments and agencies within the United States Government. Challenges range from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services seeking ideas for innovative projects that promote health within communities to an Internet apps challenge from the Federal Communications Commission to help consumers “foster, measure, and protect Internet openness.”
Before using any of these tools or sites, do your homework and carefully review what they offer and how much—if anything—it will cost you. Crowdsourcing as a work process will continue to evolve over time, and many of its applications will be helpful to your business. Good luck!
by Aliza Sherman, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Crowdsourcing
