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“Crowdsourcing is the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call.” (Jeff Howe, 2006)

Crowdsourcing is very upcoming and becomes more and more popular. Now I will show you some examples of crowdsourcing. These examples will show different ways of how to use crowdsourcing.

The first example is ‘Fold-it’. Scientists were looking for a medicine to brake the hiv-virus which is causing aids. They had to figure out how the structure of the protein, which multiplies the virus, looks like. Because of the millions of options, it could take decades. That is why the scientists from Washington decided to make the game ‘Fold-it’.

10 days after the release of the game, the solution was found.  Using 57,000 gamers the scientist could get started on the medicine they had been looking for, for ages. And the gamers had a lot of fun playing the game.

The second example is an example from Loekie. Loekie is a bicycle brand for children. They were looking for new bike parts which would improve the safety and usability and at the same time would increase the recognisability from the brand. They asked students and young professionals for help using the crowdsourcing platform Battle of Concepts.

After just one week, Loekie got 72 ideas for new bicycle parts.  Three ideas are now successfully integrated in the market. One of the ideas is for example the ball-proof carrier. The middle slat of the luggage carrier is in the shape of a half moon, so you can take a ball with you on your luggage carrier.

The next example is from Bill Gates. But it is not something you would suspect, since it has nothing to do with computers or software. Bill Gates used crowdsourcing to create a new condom. He wanted to invent the condom of the future, because of the high unwanted pregnancy rate. The best ideas got 100,000 dollar to develop the condom.

Meantime you  have condoms like the ‘origami-condom’ and ‘the wingman’ in stores.

The last example is from an ice cream vendor from Utrecht. Marten Schuurman is the first ice cream vendor who is using social media to start up his business. He asked the crowd for help with his ice cream car, the location to park his car, the tastes he would sell, the places where he would go with his car and the crowd even helped him with the name and the logo of his business. He also used social media to communicate with his customers, for example he would let the customers know what his route for the day was through social media.

These examples show that there are many ways to use social media: to come up with a scientific solution, an invention for a children’s bike, a new invention and to come up with a marketing plan.

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References:

http://www.marketingfacts.nl/berichten/39100429_socialijs_de_ijscoman_als_location_based_service

http://www.gamesforchange.org/play/foldit/

http://www.hartelijkgefaciliteerd.nl/crowdsourcing-wat-het-en-wat-kun-je-ermee/

http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/news/20130325/bill-gates-condom-challenge

http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/news/20130325/bill-gates-condom-challenge

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The internet is a great way to keep in touch with your friends, but it is also a way to get in contact with new people. The most obvious way to meet new people on the Internet is on dating sites. But you can also meet new people on blogs or forums. Some people who meet on the internet become friends, some even fall in love..

Couples who met each other on the internet is something from the last years, as you can see in figure 1. But it does not always end up in a good way. Some people go on the internet and pretend to be someone who they are not. They make a fake profile, they will steal pictures from other people to use it as their profile picture. The people who they are talking to will think they talk to the person on the picture. This does not always end up well.

Someone who uses a fake profile on social media sites to get in contact with other people Is called a ‘catfish’. The term is derived from the MTV-show called ‘Catfish’. The show is presented by Nev Schulman and Max Joseph. It started when Nev was catfished* himself. Now they help other people who think they are being catfished. (*Catfished = when you think the person you talk to is using a fake profile)

The show always starts with Nev and Max receiving an email from the person who thinks he or she is being catfished. That person explains how long they are talking to each other and why he or she thinks the other person is fake. Nev and Max will start their investigation, they trace the phone number from the catfish and they search on the web if the photos from the catfish show up on other profiles. After their search, they contact the potential catfish and they arrange a meeting between the person who thinks is being catfished and the potential catfish. This is not always a happy ending.

Apparently this ‘catfishing’ happens a lot, because the show started in 2012 and in 2015 they aired their fourth season! I think it is happening more and more because people are more online. Most people are on a social network these days and it is easy to start a conversation online.

So when you are talking to a stranger online, you have to be aware that this person is not the person who he or she says he is. Here are some signs you might be talking to a catfish.

Sign #1: If they seem too good to be true, they probably are

Sign #2: If the person does not know how to Skype or Facetime, so you cannot see their real face

Sign #3: If the person is always all around the world for their job, so it is very hard to make plans and to meet up

Sign #4: When the person does not have pictures of themselves with friends on it, or not many pictures at all

Sign #5: The most important sign, if you think you are being catfished, you are probably right

So always be careful with who you talk to on the internet.

References

• http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/themas/bevolking/publicaties/artikelen/archief/2014/2014-4087-wm.htm
• https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catfish:_The_TV_Show
• https://socialcatfish.com/12-signs-might-getting-catfished-online/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMA4x7aXJT0

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‘Creating Social Contagion Through Viral Product Design: A Randomized Trial of Peer Influence in Networks’

This article mentions a research about the effect of viral features designs on the worth-of-mouth peer influence and social contagion. They found that passive-broadcast messaging is used more often, generating more total peer adoption in the network.

‘Leveraging Public Sentiment to Beat the Market’

It links Twitter information regarding individual stocks with market performance. They conclude that buying, holding and selling stocks based on past sentiment leads to several profitable outcomes. However, economic theory suggests that if profitable trading strategies have now been proven to have existed historically, there is no guarantee they will persist in the future.

‘Strategies for Two-Sided Markets’

It discusses the challenges that come along with the two-sided markets. They show how to deal with these problems when you are in a two-sides market. They also bring up the fact that the two-sided markets are unexplored, so there is a lot of uncertainty. And because of the internet, firms have easy access to both sides of new markets, so there is a pressure you have to do it right the first time.

With this week’s topic ‘Diffusion and Social Influence’ in mind, I found two more articles related to this topic.

The first article is ‘The Role of Social Networks in Information Diffusion’. They examine the role of social networks in online information diffusion. They did numbers of field-experiments to find out that people who were exposed to signals about friends’ information are significantly more likely to spread information than those who are not exposed. They also found out that weak ties may play a more dominant role in the dissemination of information online, although stronger ties are individually more influential.

Second article is ‘How does the Data Sampling Strategy Impact the Discovery of Information Diffusion in Social Media?’ This article also mentions sharing things with friends through social media. But now they focus on the sampling methods. The results where that for small sample sizes you have to sample both topology and user-context to improve on naïve methods.

I found a lot of mini-cases related to the topic.

One is from UNICEF , the Unicef UK Ambassador Jemima Khan posted a selfie when he woke up with the hashtag #WakeUpCall and the message to donate money. More and more people followed his example and even many celebrities joined the hype. #WakeUpCall became an internet hit and it reached over 300 million people all over the world.

Second is #thumbsupforStephen. Stephen Sutton was a teenager suffering incurable cancer. A photo of Stephen doing a thumbs-up from his hospital bed went viral and lead people to post similar photos. He has now raised over 5 million pounds for the charity.

Both of these examples show that one small picture can make a lot of difference. The social media is a very cheap, easy and effective way to reach a lot of people and create awareness among the society.

References:

– Aral, S. and Walker, D. (2011) Creating Social Contagion through Viral Product Design: A Randomized Trial of Peer Influence in Networks. Management Science 57(9) 1623-1639

– Bakshy, E. Marlow, C. Rosenn, I. and Adamic, L. 2012. The Role of Social Networks in Information Diffusion. University of Michigan

– De Choudhury, M. Lin, Y.R. Sundaram, H. Candan, K. S. Xie, L, and Kelliher, A. 2010. How Does the Data Sampling Strategy Impact the Discovery of Information Diffusion in Social Media? Arizona State University

– Eisenmann, T. Parker, G., and Van Alstyne, M.W. (2006) Strategies for Two-Sided Markets. Harvard Business Review 84(10) 92-101

– Li, t., Sprengers, D., and van Dalen, J. (2013) Leveraging in Public Sentiment to Beat the Market. Working Paper

– http://blogs.unicef.org.uk/2014/10/07/wakeupcall-syria/, 2015

– http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/thumbs-up-stephen-sutton-first-5698813, 2015

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Did you know that Facebook has 936 Million users worldwide?

Facebook is integrated in the lifestyles of most people. They check Facebook when they wake-up, when they are waiting for the bus, when they have lunch, while they are working and right before they go to sleep. Some people also post pictures of themselves or with friend, of their breakfast and they post ‘what is on their mind’ like when they are happy, when they are sad, when they are in love. They also give their opinion about political discussions or post what they are doing like ‘in the gym’. All this to stay in touch with their friends. But why spend all your time on Facebook, when you can actually spend time with your friends in real life? Are we losing our real friends, because we keep updating our Facebook friends?

Because we are spending so much time on Facebook, you would say we have less time for our real friends and real life meetings. But it does not look that way if we believe the research being done by Michigan State University. Both non-stop Facebook users as anti-Facebook users seem to have five close friends. According to the study from Michigan State University, students with an average of 175 Facebook friends use their online time to maintain the friendship with these close friends.

Media psychologist and social media consultant Mischa Coster said: “ Because of social media, people visit each other more often in real life. Online and offline flow into on another. You do not have to ask what they are up to, because you already read it on twitter.”

I agree with Coster, because of the internet it is easier to make plans with your friends. For example you can make an event on Facebook, or you can send a personal message if you want to meet up. But I do not like it when my friends are constantly on Facebook when I am with them. For example that time when I had diner in a restaurant with my friend. The food was finally ready and although I was really hungry, I could not touch my food. Not because it was hot or anything, but because my friend wanted to make a picture of the plate ‘for snapchat’, she said. So it is a good thing to stay online, but when you are meeting up with friend in real life, you can go offline.

Do you have more or less friends because of social media? And what do you prefer, online or offline friends? Has the day, Einstein feared for, already begun?

N. B. Ellison, C. Steinfield, C. Lample. 2007. The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:” Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites. August 2007

http://www.socialbakers.com/statistics/facebook/