Comments on: When The Opposite May Also Be True

By: Jason Spector

Jason Spector — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:16:08 +0000

Swan,

I agree that it takes some due diligence to make sure you're accessing the right crowd, providing the right task and offering the right follow-up. And in anything you do, there's always some risk. However, I think the point of the TED talk and my post is to maintain an open mind and being aware of your assumptions in any field, whether it be crowdsourcing, marketing, design, sales or the overall aspects of life.

I focused on crowdsourcing simply because that's the field I work in and what I write about. But if a marketer creates a promotion that focuses on the wrong target audience or a web designer creates a US-centric ecommerce site for an international audience, the results may also be incorrect and not helpful either.

Thanks for the comment and offering your viewpoint. I really appreciate it.

By: Swan

Swan — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:30:35 +0000

I think this speaks to a potential downside in crowdsourcing. You have to be very careful what crowd you select when sourcing. If you ask the wrong or too broad a crowd, you may get perspectives that are not useful, or at worst counter-productive to whatever your goal is.

I'm all for examining a variety of viewpoints, but if they are messing with aggregate data and thereby leading you to incorrect conclusions, that is not helpful.

By: Jason Spector

Jason Spector — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:16:41 +0000

Mario,

Thanks for sharing your experiences. It's interesting to hear the differences you encountered. I especially like how you phrased the lesson you learned ... "Understanding demographics and never assuming your presence is perfect is key. I just had to be willing to adjust and embrace new channels."

You also bring up an excellent point that social networking has now helped us understand various viewpoints more than ever before as well as engage with people all of the world on a more personal level.

Thanks for you comment and feedback. Appreciate it.

By: MiChmski (Michelle C)

MiChmski (Michelle C) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:56:04 +0000

Tis the week of TED When The Opposite May Also Be True @jasonspector http://bit.ly/d9WXyB

By: Mario Mendoza

Mario Mendoza — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:13:06 +0000

I've been trying to maintain this mentality with relation to music marketing. A defining moment for me came when I visited India in 2007 for a couple of months. I wanted to get a better feel for their music culture, in particular, US music entering their society.

My hopes were to find areas where music development might flourish. Things over there were different. Everyone was on Facebook in 2007 and I really didn't care too much for the service. Music promotion was seen in sharing playlists, scrolling through each others iPods, telling friends "you have to buy this album, take a listen". I learned a huge marketing lesson. Understanding demographics and never assuming your presence is perfect is key. I just had to be willing to adjust and embrace new channels.

Social networking now allows me to understand alternate viewpoints, and personally ask people. Nice article Jason, look forward to reading more.