The Power of Crowdsourcing

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Picture two companies: The first is a large international corporation with seemingly endless resources: Qualified managers, expert employees, strategic executives and attractive compensation packages. The second has a limited budget, relying on volunteers to contribute out of sheer interest and enjoyment.

Assuming they’re in direct competition with each other, which of these two companies do you think would be more successful?

How could the first company NOT get your vote? At first glance, you’d think it has a vastly superior product that can easily crush its competition. It’s bound to be more successful, right?

But that’s not always the case. Especially when it comes to gathering and organizing large amounts of data, which, as it turns out, is the business that these two companies are in. The first is Encarta, offered by Microsoft, one of the world’s largest companies with a market value of more than $200 billion. The second is Wikipedia, a small organization that relies on donations from users – crowdsourced information, as we call it in the industry.

At 411.ca, we offer crowdsourcing too! We have a great online community – one of the fastest-growing in Canada, in fact – and our members are experts on the local businesses they frequent. The entire community benefits when you add a business to our site, correct a mistake or report a problem. And the more info you submit, the better! You won’t have to worry about calling the wrong phone number and we promise to save you a trip to a business that’s already closed. As a token of our appreciation, we award influence points to everyone who helps improve our data. And guess what? Points can mean big prizes!

Ready to start? Here’s a quick crowdsourcing tutorial.

– Bryan, Advertiser Product Specialist

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