Tapping into the collective wisdom of the crowd can be a more efficient and sometimes more economic way to get things done. One of the most common examples of crowdsourcing is Wikipedia, where users share their expertise and make continual updates to the vast online encyclopedic resource.
In addition to crowdsourcing labor, organizations are using
it to generate new creative ideas in the way of logo or naming contests. For
example, Pepsi used crowdsourcing in 2007 to ask consumers to design a new look
for the Pepsi can in exchange for a $10,000 prize. Others use it to generate
donations for a good cause or to support innovation. Researchers and game
designers at the University of Washington developed Foldit, an online game that
uses crowdsourcing to ‘solve puzzles for science.’ A group of video gamers
helped them discover the structure of an enzyme used by retroviruses similar to
HIV. It was a major research breakthrough and one that biochemists had not been
able to solve for years.
Several new companies help their clients access a crowdsourcing
platform. San Francisco-based CrowdFlower found its niche by providing
companies with data clean up via crowdsourcing. The ‘crowd’ handles simple
tasks such as matching business names with addresses. The company has had more
than 2 million people around the world work for them. They’re able to provide
an inexpensive labor pool that can ramp up quickly to manage a large volume of
work. A few other firms that offer access to crowdsourcing are Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and Clickworker.com.
I recently read about a small startup in our industry using
crowdsourcing to connect developers with the local community. Through its website,
popularize.com, the company enables developers and property owners in
Washington, D.C., to take the pulse of the local community and deliver the kinds
of companies and services local residents want. They post large-scale signs on
empty building exteriors asking, “What would you like to see here?” Users log
onto the website, find buildings in their area and then provide input. Then,
it’s up to developers and property owners to determine the economic viability
of the suggestions. The company is scheduled to launch a new platform that will
allow users to directly invest in buildings listed on the Popularise site.
Tapping into the opinions and expertise of the crowd has
huge potential as a way to get fresh perspectives on complex challenges, get access
to talent around the world or get new ideas to develop or market products. The
question for Colliers and for our industry is: Can we leverage the wisdom of
our global organizations, with the vast knowledge and expertise, in new and
unique ways to take real estate services to higher levels of professional
excellence? I welcome the challenge in exploring this idea and I welcome your
feedback on how you see crowdsourcing impacting our industry.
