CosGuru | Cosmin Ghiu

What is CrowdSourcing?

I recently came across a new buzzword within the tech industry named: CrowdSourcing.

This new buzzword has been placed on something that has been going on a lot since the web 2.0 explosion the past year and a half now. According to bNET Crowdsourcing is simply put: “the basic idea is to tap into the collective intelligence of the public at large to complete business-related tasks that a company would normally either perform itself or outsource to a third-party provider. Yet free labor is only a narrow part of crowdsourcing’s appeal. More importantly, it enables managers to expand the size of their talent pool while also gaining deeper insight into what customers really want.”

One web company that has launched that tackles crowdsourcing exclusively is: CrowdSpirit.org . CrowdSpirit basically applies crowdsourcing to products. Products have been using crowdsourcing since the introduction of “reviews” and “comments” for websites that sold products or allowed such feedback from users and visitors.

Truthfully many times when I would comparison shop I would look at the reviews and/or comments for a particular product and in many times use that as the trump card to make a purchase on a specific brand or model. CrowdSpirit takes crowdsourcing and placed it in a nice schema:

Of course crowdsourcing as originally mentioned is just a buzzword currently. This idea can be applied to various other buzzwords such as:

• Fansourcing
• Crowdcasting
• Open sourcing
• Open innovation
• Crowdfunding
• Mass collaboration
• Collective customer commitment
• Wikinomics

Some enablers of crowdsourcing can be used such as:

• Email
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Online forums and mailing lists
• Internet services such as YouTube and MySpace

So we may be witnessing the beginning of a new phenomenon in marketing and enabling of success online. One thing is for certain, crowdsourcing is officially here.

Huge Web 2.0 Internet Directory

I found a really neat website that is a directory for all sites that fall in the ‘web 2.0′ category.

http://www.go2web20.net

Go2Web20.net is a nicely designed Flash page with logos and basic information for most web 2.0 companies. Click on a logo to see an overview of the company and links from blogs discussing it. It’s also sortable and searchable. Which is a nice feature! Having alot of content in this flash app will really take a while for the page to load up, which should be fixed with better optimization.

Orli Yakuel and Eyal Shahar designed and built the site. Both live in Tel Aviv, Israel. The ‘capitol’ of middle east web development

Creating something like this is a ton of work. The site is nothing but a reflection of Orli and Eyal’s passion for what’s happening on the web right now. the same passion that is driving the success of this and other blogs dedicated to chronicling this period of web history.

This website is DEFINETLY worth a BOOKMARK!

Boycott MySpace

 

Can I boycott myspace?

I saw this article on TechCrunch called: MySpace: we don’t need Web 2.0. I really have to rant here and say. How arrogant is that!

I mean, NewsCorp is so stuck on themselves with myspace. Yes. it has exploded the Web 2.0 scene within the past year but to say that they dont need Web 2.0 is like General Motors saying they dont need an engine in their car. I mean seriously. Everyone needs a Car but if you have no engine in it where will it take you?

As my 30th birthday gets closer to be honest the only reason I’ve used or created a MySpace account was to ‘network’. However, because of its mass consumation of time, to really ’socialize’ just doesnt appeal to me. Since what is the statistic 80% of Myspace users are under the age of 18? I am happily married with a 5 year old daughter, i dont need ‘lonelygirl4u’ adding me to her network of friends!

So don’t think you are all that MySpace. Make myspace ”a place for friends” and welcome the other Web 2.0 websites that collaboratively share to better everyone. 

Flickr Newbie

…Not sure if there are to many people within my circle or my readers of my blog who have a FLICKR account.

I created one last week while I am continueing to explore Web 2.0 technologies. Flickr is the premier or I should say the ‘grand-daddy’ of Web 2.0 technology. Its great to see that after Yahoo bought them some time ago, they have had the backing and marketing muscle to explode.

Their features are so incredible and * cheap that I instantly bought a premier acount for 1 year. What better way to get so much space for storage of your photos. What is even better is the fact that you can purchase prints for as little as $0.20 per 4×6 print. Awesome.

Also, you can RSS directly to your photo album. Now THAT is awesome!

Here is a link to my FlickR account. Check it the latest photos. (click on the ALL SIZES button for the large version!)

Cosmin Ghiu Flickr Account