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On crowdsourcing and the synergies with location-based services

vom 09. December 2010

Open innovation is infiltrating more and more companies which want to benefit from the knowledge of external experts, customers and users. Crowdsourcing is one important discipline of open innovation and means the ‘out-sourcing’ of tasks - such as innovation, design or product development - to the crowd.
Location-based services are another trend which has been propagated for years and has finally managed to really impact our daily lives. Just think of Twitter, Facebook, Gowalla, Foursquare and many other services where it’s about broadcasting what your doing, often in combination with a specific location or place.

How can crowdsourcing evolve under the influence of location-based services? How can it profit from location-awareness provided by many applications and the individuals themselves? Three scenarios:

1. Gathering local information - human sensors
Think of the job to be out-sourced to the crowd as of gathering local information about the mood of people (politics, party, game, general), opinions, facts (like snow or weather conditions), etc.

2. Customer Insights - Giving input on the spot
Companies or individuals with a certain question or problem related to a place or spot can ask nearby mobile phone users for ideas or comments.

• Migros could ask locals what their needs in terms of opening hours are
• A gym could ask potential customers who are passing by what it would need for them in order to come in
• A big shopping mall could ask visitors for inputs related to healthier offers in the food court

3. Community - Identify experts and innovators around you
Every day we have lots of almost-encounters with people we know, who passed by just a little too far away to meet.
Members of online innovator communities usually do not meet. Location aware apps could motivate creative people to meet when they are close to each other and let them discuss a certain question, brainstorm ideas or design a concept.