Crowdsourcing, the recent trend of letting the online populace contribute info, helps gain social media credibility, but is it right for your goals?

The tricky part about promoting business through social media is avoiding dry content, but still sending a message. A recent Advertising Age article, “Don’t Confuse Social Networking with Social Media” detailed how many large corporations, like Coca-Cola, have failed to fully embrace social media by directly interacting with customers. The highlight of the article showcased how CNN’s crowdsourcing iReport site, which allows readers to write and film their own news segments, helped the news site explode with popularity.

The article recommends businesses put their social media friends to work through Crowdsourcing. AdAge claims letting others, like amateur reporters, do the heavy lifting also adds a sheen of street credibility. The problem is, how will this reflect on your business?

It will reflect poorly, according to a few sources. Forbes Magazine, in its article “The Myth of Crowdsourcing” points to Netflix’s recent million-dollar crowdsourcing experiment to invent an improved algorithm through user teamwork as an example of this skewed viewpoint. “The notion of crowds creating solutions appeals to our desire to believe that working together we can do anything, but in terms of innovation it is just ridiculous.” It goes on to state, “the crowd solves nothing, creates nothing.”

Another other ugly side of crowdsourcing by amateurs is that the results look, well, amateur. Wired’s coverage of this online phenomenon, “The Rise of Crowdsourcing,” points out how amateur stock photo sites are putting a seasoned, professional photographer out of business by charging pennies on the dollar for sub-par images. This mirrors the complaints of Wikepedia’s sometimes questionable accuracy, not to mention countless other interactive ventures.

The SSN Take: Crowdsourcing might sound like a great way to draw in new customers, but you must consider whether you are comfortable with less-than-professional results.

Patrick Roland, April 28, 2010

Note: Post not sponsored.