Estelles and Gonzales have defined crowdsourcing as “a type of participative online activity in which an individual, institution, non-profit organisation or company proposes to a group of individuals of varying knowledge, heterogeneity,and a number, via a flexible open number, the voluntary undertaking of a task”.
Crowdsourcing has become relevant in recent times and it is being pursued rigorously alongside social media tools. One way to effectively harness the power of crowdsourcing is by taking advantage of social media. By initiating dialogue, interactivity, and two-way communication other than the traditional asymmetric form of engagement, organisations are able to build communities online based on mutual interest and benefits. Being able to do this means you are ready to go with crowdsourcing, that is not to say organisations can not undertake crowdsourcing using offline activities.You can!
Organisations that will adopt crowdsourcing stands to gain in many ways. With crowdsourcing, organisations give their audiences the chance to be inclusive in decision-making, share ideas, and feel part of the organisation. During the process of sharing and engagement a real dialogue ensues which leads to the achievement collective interests.
Furthermore, crowdsourcing helps you saves on your dollars and make people fight “tooth and nail” to provide your organisation with the best ideas and skills for free. And if you were thinking about ROI, never mind! because you are provided with the value of every penny you spent as there is a pool of GREAT ideas to choose from.
Another interesting thing about crowdsourcing is that it exposes your organisation to floods of talent, all rushing to your organisation to contribute their creative ideas. With this kind of problem solving, you and your organisation will ultimately reduce the amount of cash spent head-hunting for talents to undertake a particular task. Though this may sound opportunistic, it is, nevertheless, the norm nowadays. Because people have believes, and this is just one way to contribute towards those believes and ideas they stand for.
This phenomenon (crowdsourcing) is a great addition to businesses, but even more relevant is how this powerful social model of problem solving can be greatly essential to non-profit organisation.
For organisation/institutions operating on tight and smaller budgets, and for organisations active in the realm of social and political activism, crowdsourcing is a perfect opportunity.It may just be appropriate to explore this opportunity!
kamaramakama 