Crowdsourcing: An Application of Promotional Marketing

Abstract

Groups are more creative than individuals; therefore, they also contain more knowledge, and this assumption represents the central principle of crowdsourcing. The term “crowdsourcing” is a contraction of the words crowd (a large number of people) and outsourcing (the use of external assistance or help). The crowdsourcing concept was popularized and clearly defined in a Wired Magazine article published by the American journalist Jeff Howe in 2006, and since then, it has been implemented in a wide range of industries. Nowadays, with the proliferation of the crowdsourcing practices, it has become necessary to clearly define what crowdsourcing really is and what its specific limits are. So, while there is not one unique way to categorize the crowdsourcing landscape, the most popular classifications done by experts and researchers on the subject classify crowdsourcing performances according to the task or labour performed, the features of the crowd or even the problem or task being solved. All in all, before launching any crowdsourcing initiative, it is important to determine what your ultimate goal is, and the answer to that question will help you decide which crowdsourcing model can maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses. Any crowdsourcing project turns into a promotion and marketing campaign, since the diffusion performed for the campaign, in order to be successful, should be managed in the same way as any marketing action would be.

Appendix 1 Crowdsourcing Concept Definitions

Author	Definition
Howe (2006a, b)	“Simply defined, crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call”
Howe (2009)	“Crowdsourcing is the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call”
Brabham (2013)	“Crowdsourcing is an online, distributed problem-solving and production model that leverages the collective intelligence of online communities to serve specific organizational goals”
Oliveira et al. (2009)	“A way of outsourcing to the crowd tasks of intellectual assets creation, often collaboratively, with the aim of having easier access to a wide variety of skills and experience”
Vukovic (2009)	“A new on-line distributed problem solving and production model in which networked people collaborate to complete a task”
Sloane (2011)	“One particular manifestation of open innovation. It is the act of outsourcing a task to a large group of people outside your organization, often by making a public call for response. It is based on the open source philosophy, which used a large ‘crowd’ of developers to build the Linux operating system”
Whitla (2010)	“Crowdsourcing defines a process of organising labour, where firms parcel out work to some form of (normally online) community, offering payment for anyone within the ‘crowd’ who completes the task the firm has set”