• How AI Can Help Solve The Biggest Problem With Crowdsourcing

    The concept of engaging “the Crowd” through digital platforms has been around for some time. Howard Rheingold coined the term “Smart Mob” in 2002 to describe the phenomenon of people acting in concert “because they carry devices that possess both communication and computing capabilities”. The concept was carried forward in 2005 by the editors of…

  • The Future of Crowdsourcing: An Interview With Bastian Unterberg of Jovoto

    Bastian Unterberg is the founder and CEO of Jovoto, a Berlin-based platform that enables global brands and enterprise businesses to solve design and innovation challenges – ranging from new product design to sustainable architecture – with a community of over 60,000 creative professionals. In 2013, Wiley published Bastian’s book, “Crowdstorm – The Future of Innovation, Ideas and Problem…

  • Beyond Ideas: Building Open Innovation Communities

    Open Innovation Communities – where companies and customers collaborate on ideas for new products and services – can be one of the most valuable ways to invest in community engagement. Unfortunately, this type of community is also one of the most difficult to get right. Many companies have experimented with this type of  Open Innovation – Lego Ideas, Dell’s IdeaStorm,…

  • To Develop a Community, Think Network First

    We need a new and more holistic approach to develop modern communities. Using network as a blank canvas allows you to create strategy from drawing from the largest possible pool of value. Thinking “Network” means you are considering the full set of relationships among stakeholders, assets, and increasingly, artificial intelligence actors that could potentially be…

  • Purpose Will Power Future Online Communities

    Purpose “…people’s identification of, and intention to pursue, particular highly valued, overarching life goals.” (Steger & Dik, 2010). a.k.a. “Your reason for getting up in the morning.” Bryan Dik PhD – Professor of Psychology at Colorado State & Cofounder of Jobzology The Fine Line Between Engagement & Manipulation Growthhacking, gamification, content snacks and personalization. Your feed…

  • Develop Your Networked Business Pilot in Less Than an Hour: Worksheet

    Develop Your Networked Business Pilot in Less Than an Hour: Worksheet

    Many organizations are struggling to understand and respond to the changes being driven by the Collaborative (some say On Demand or Sharing) Economy. A simple way to get started is to think about 1) what assets you have to offer and 2) how digital networks enable distribution, usage of and collaboration with those assets. This process is…

  • Want to Know What Community Members (a.k.a. Customers) Need? Just Ask.

    Are you “Member Shy”? In its most basic form, a community strategy is a balance of an organization’s goals and its member’s (a.k.a customer’s) needs. Organizations have methodologies for developing goals and objectives, yet I continue to be surprised at how many organizations are missing research as a core part of their online community development process. Even for organizations…

  • Speaking: #OCTribe Meetup | SF Jan27th

      Hi Folks – a quick post to let you know that I am leading a discussion at the #OCTribe Online Community Meetup in SF this Wednesday night. I’ve been involved with this meetup for many years, and it is an honor to be asked to speak! Description and registration information follow. I hope we…

  • Introducing Network Thinking: A Mobile Approach to Customer Communities

    Customer Communities Don’t Have To Be Complicated We know companies that invest in creating networks of relationships perform better than those that don’t. We also know that customers connected to a company’s “network of relationships” are more valuable. One of the best ways to create a customer network is to develop online communities. There are myriad vendors,…

  • The Secret Ingredient for Customer Lifecycle Marketing? Community Management.

    Clearly Customer Lifecycle Marketing is incredibly valuable when all stages of the lifecycle are addressed. So what is the problem? Based on my direct experience and years of studying the intersection of marketing and online community, I would assert that building meaningful relationships at scale is still an undeveloped function in the majority of most…