The Ignorance of Crowds
In his seminal book The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki convinced us that the masses would be better than the elite few at fostering innovation. Brands swift to embrace user-generated content were seen as ahead of the game. Writers like Nicholas Carr turn this thinking on its head in his essay The Ignorance of Crowds. Talented individuals, rather than crowds, they say, are still the best at innovation. One of the most compelling arguments is that the Web 2.0 model, exemplified by Wikipedia, is built on consensus rather than fact. Therefore, if the crowd says two plus two equals five, then this becomes truth, which renders Web 2.0 deeply flawed. This is one of the reasons why ‘co-creation brief’ has started to be seen as a curse rather than a blessing. So how do you make sure that “wisdom” doesn’t turn into “groupthink”? We think it’s probably about understanding what consumers are good at, and what’s best left to the experts, and where involving the customer makes business sense. The music industry is a good example of the how the wisdom of the crowd has succeeded where the short-sightedness of the elite has failed. Sites like Slice The Pie, Sell A Band and Artist Share have turned fans into investors and created a new business model for an industry in transition.
Thanks to jon miller and sarah rabia for this one.
References:
Viewpoint
Antidote
Image Credit:
The Apathist
