Whether it’s crowdsourcing, user generated content, community building, or “collaborative competition” there’s a movement going on here. It seems we’re evolving in a sense, but at the same time reverting back to before the Industrial Revolution when we didn’t depend on “the firm” to spoon feed us our news, our products, our thinking. This evolution can be seen in the many ways we’re “thinking outside of the box” (oh, the irony of using corporate-speak) to innovate and change the way we communicate and do business. The reason we change is because there’s something more to be desired from what we’re getting now. What is it that we want that is driving this movement?
Passion and Spirit. In Touch, Real People. Authenticity. Transparency. Innovation.
In Crowdsourcing, Jeff Howe describes how Jack Hughes came up with the idea for TopCoder:
“He started it because he had a bone to pick with the software industry. “It’s soft,” he says. “Software development has this reputation that nothing ever comes in on time, that it’s always over budget and that it’s always full of bugs. There’s a reason for that: it’s true.” Hughes wanted to inject the field with some of the discipline and quality control more common in the manufacturing of traditional, tangible goods. During downtime at Tallan his programmers had competed against one another in informal contests. Hughes had noticed that the resulting code was better than what he was paying them to write. Why not make them compete against on another all the time?”
Hughes has built a community of developers that create innovative solutions with better code in terms of quality and time, but why? Because there’s passion and spirit behind the work that’s brought out by the competitive environment, the freedom and autonomy, and the desire to contribute their talent.
People are turning to hyperlocal blogs (WestSeattleBlog.com, CapitolHillSeattle.com, MyBallard.com) to get their community and neighborhood news versus relying on their local newspapers for this information. The audiences of sites like these continue to grow across the country because of the people “behind the scenes.” The audience connects with the writers because the writers are their neighbors. They can relate. They are more in touch with the community than “the firm” who is only “in touch” with the community when the bigger news stories hit. The stories coming from the hyperlocal blogs are more authentic because the people writing and reading them are connected, there’s a conversation happening allowing for transparency.
Another example of audiences relating to “real people” is The Sartorialist blog, but this time with an eye on fashion. “When I worked in the fashion industry (15 years), I always felt that there was a disconnect between what I was selling in the showroom and what I was seeing real people (really cool people) wearing in real life.” Scott Schuman photographs real people on the street that he deems “stylish.” This form of fashion magazine is a real turn from the models with stylists and personal shoppers we see in Vogue and InStyle. These are people that got out of bed and dressed themselves. Not only does he show the authentic style, he has created a community around fashion by “articulating his point of view.”
Zooppa really epitomizes all that’s driving this movement by creating a community of passionate people producing truly innovative media that tells the story of each brand through the authentic perceptions of the audience. There’s no formula; there’s no corporate messaging; there’s no spin; it’s real people making real stories for each client.
Although we could go on and on describing the many ways people are using community building, user generated content, and crowdsourcing to create a new product, a new community, a new business model, etc. one thing is clear, we are thirsty (better yet, parched) for something more than force fed, corporate fluff.
So maybe it’s time for “the firm” whether it’s a software firm, media firm or a PR firm to take heed and listen a little to the crowd instead of continuing to be bureaucratic cogs, spinmasters, handlers of diva execs and start becoming a part of the community, joining the conversation, listening and interacting to produce products that we want, transparent and authentic messages, and innovation that moves us out of the Industrial Revolution firm mindset and into the new counterculture.
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