Crowdsourcing: Definition, Types and Benefits

Term crowdsourcing maybe still not familiar to some people. Whereas, crowdsourcing have a close relationship with casual workers or freelancer.

Crowdsourcing allows a group of people to pool ideas or services that are used to achieve the success of a project. With crowdsourcing, companies can save time, energy and costs in recruiting employees.

So, what exactly is meant by crowdsourcing and what are the advantages?

Definition Crowdsourcing

Quoting from the Investopedia page, crowdsourcing is a method used to gather many people who want to achieve something or do something. Those who are in crowdsourcing will be asked to do a particular job.

Crowdsourcing was first coined in an article written by Jeff Howe on the Wired site in 2006. In the article, Howe said that crowdsourcing be one way to solve the problem with the help of many people.

In this case, Howe used a story about a Washington Museum employee who was looking for stock photos to display in his museum. Fortunately, he then found the iStockphoto site which provides a variety of stock photos from various sources.

Types Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing have several types that will determine what service suits your needs. As for several types crowdsourcing, among others:

Microtasking

Microtasking is a crowdsourcing which breaks large tasks into small tasks that most people are ready to do.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a funding method carried out by a group of people to help fund a project.

crowdwisdom

crowdwisdom is the way when companies ask for input or feedback from many people through a site.

benefit Crowdsourcing

Generally, crowdsourcing widely used to complete large projects and require a lot of human resources. Because, crowdsourcing has many benefits for the company.

Some of the benefits of crowdsourcing, among others:

1. Reducing Operational Costs

Crowdsourcing has the main benefit of minimizing operational costs incurred on a project. This is because the company does not need to pay workers wages crowdsourcing or freelancer in full for a month, but will only pay according to the project being carried out.

The work can also be completed online, so there will be no additional costs for other operations.

2. Filling Positions That Don't Exist in the Company

Generally, not all companies have sufficient staff required for all divisions. This is common in companies that are just starting out or starting up, where they will sacrifice several divisions that are only needed for certain projects.

With crowdsourcing, these problems can be solved by offering a group of people who are able to fill the vacant position.

3. Ensuring Every Detail Is Done

Several companies will usually use the platform crowdsourcing to complete a specific job. This usually happens when a company is working on a large project that requires special attention to detail.

Well, that's the explanation about crowdsourcing that has been compiled for you. Although known to have various benefits, use crowdsourcing need to be considered and re-adjusted to your needs.