Why Andrew Keen is fundamentally wrong about crowds

By

Internet dystopian Andrew Keen, author most recently of Digital Vertigo, has just spoken at TheNextWeb Summit and Conference. 

He and his arguments are intensely annoying because his case is blindly and obtusely one-sided, though it is useful to have his voice to provide a counterpoint to digital utopianism. 

Part of his argument is that we are giving away too much of our identity and personal data. That is absolutely valid, and it is good that people are reminded to think carefully about what they share online.

However Andrew conflates oversharing with the shift to crowds, going so far as to suggest that there is no value in crowds. Yesterday in specific response to my prior Summit presentation on The Future of Crowds Andrew said that all innovation, all new ideas of value, come from brilliant individuals. 
Read more →

Keynote at TheNextWeb: The future is motion graphic presentations

By

I am giving keynotes this Wednesday at TheNextWeb CxO Summit and on Friday at TheNextWeb Conference.

My topic will be the Future of Crowds, a big picture view of how crowds will be the future of everything, including its impact on work, organizations, business models, capitalism, reputation, media, marketing, innovation, opportunity, and government.

However one of the most interesting aspects of my keynote is that my visual presentation will consist entirely of motion graphics, 3D, and video – there will be no still images.

I first started experimenting with using Flash in presentations in the 1990s, and often use a variety of videos and flash embedded into my presentations. For many years I have wanted to create an entirely moving graphic presentation. When I was asked to speak at TheNextWeb, I thought it was a great opportunity to finally do it.

For the last few weeks I have been working with a global team of moving graphic and 3D designers to create my visual presentation.


Read more →

Discount for London incubators at Crowdsourcing for Startups and Social Innovation workshop

By

On 1 May I am running a half-day Crowdsourcing for Startups and Social Innovation workshop at Hub Westminster.

From 1:30pm to 5:00pm we will run a highly interactive session looking at the practical ways in which crowds and crowdsourcing can be used to drive value in crowds and crowdsourcing.

We will primarily look at the crowdsourcing landscape, how to get outstanding results from using crowds, how to drive successful crowdfunding, and crowd business models for profit and non-profit, exploring many examples of how entrepreneurs and social innovators are using the ideas, energy, and enthusiasm of crowds to create amazing new ventures. Crowdsourcing is at the heart of how value is going to be created.
Read more →

La valeur du crowdsourcing: Atelier à Paris

By

Je viens de faire une courte vidéo à propos du crowdsourcing.

Dans mon livre Getting Results from Crowds, qu’on pourraît traduire par “Obtenir des résultats des masses”, j’explique comment les organisations, petites et grandes, doivent procéder pour bien utiliser le crowdsourcing.

À Paris, le 3 mai, je présente avec le Boostzone Institute un petit-déjeuner à propos du crowdsourcing. Je vais parler en détail des opportunités, des défis et de comment les entreprises doivent s’y prendre.

J’espère vous y voir!

Future of Crowdsourcing workshop at Crowdsourcing Summit in Cologne

By

On April 28, immediately after my keynote at TheNextWeb conference in Amsterdam, I will travel to Cologne to run a workshop on the Future of Crowdsourcing. Unfortunately I will miss what looks like an excellent Crowdsourcing Summit on April 27 as I will be speaking in Amsterdam that day.

I’ve made a short video to introduce some of what we’ll be covering in the Future of Crowdsourcing workshop.


Read more →

The MegaTrend of Distributed Attention is driving everything

By

Yesterday I ran Getting Results From Crowds and Crowd Business Models workshops in Sydney, the first in a global series of crowdsourcing workshops.

In opening the Crowd Business Models workshop, I ran through some of the driving forces that are shifting business models to crowds. I had quickly drawn up the list the evening before the workshop, with the first coming to mind Distributed Attention.

During the workshop we had an awesome panel of three of Sydney’s top entrepreneurs: Rebekah Campbell of Posse, Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin of BlueChilli and Phil Morle of Pollenizer.

Each one of them spoke about how much harder it is to get people’s attention than even a year or two ago. For each of them, one of the fundamental reasons that business models need to start with crowds is that individual attention is increasingly fleeting. You can’t bolt on crowds to a business model as an afterthought – it must be at the center.
Read more →

Le Crowdsourcing en France: une opportunité de créer le futur

By

Je suis enchanté de faire une présentation à Paris 3 mai avec Boostzone Institute. Dominique Turcq de l’institut et moi avons discuté depuis longtemps de notre intérêt commun qui est le futur du travail et des organisations.

Je vais parler du “Crowdsourcing”. Mon nouveau livre Getting Results From Crowds vient de paraître, et en mai-juin je fais des keynote et des ateliers sur le sujet à Sydney, Amsterdam, Cologne, Londres, Bruxelles, New York et San Francisco, entre autres.

Pour moi, un futurologue, c’est quelqu’un qui aide les gens à réfléchir à propos de l’avenir, afin de prendre de meilleures décisions aujourd’hui.

Quand je regarde l’avenir du monde des affaires, il est clair pour moi que le crowdsourcing, ou faire appel aux masses, vont être au centre de comment le business, la société, et les entreprises vont changer.
Read more →

Exploring crowd business models

By

For me, the most interesting part of my new book Getting Results From Crowds is Chapter 22 on Crowd Business Models (which you can download here). I knew that after getting the book out a major direction for me would be delving deeper into the wonders of crowd business models. I’m now beginning to do some more exploring, together with lots of other people.

Next Monday I run a Crowd Business Models workshop in Sydney, the first in a global series of crowdsourcing workshops.

My Crowd Business Models framework below, like all my frameworks, is in perpetual beta. Part of the intention of the workshop series is that we will collectively evolve my crowdsourcing frameworks, including the one for crowd business models.


Read more →

Competition! Win free pass to Sydney workshops on how to grow your business using crowdsourcing

By

We are kicking off our global series of crowdsourcing workshops on Monday 16 April in Sydney, with a morning workshop on Getting Results From Crowds and an afternoon workshop on Crowd Business Models.

In the following weeks I will be running crowdsourcing workshops in Cologne, London, Paris, Brussels, and New York, followed later in the year by San Francisco and other leading cities.

In the spirit of crowdsourcing, we are offering a free pass to the full day consisting of both workshops in Sydney to the two best answers to the question:

What new opportunities does crowdsourcing create for growing businesses?

You can answer in two ways:
Read more →

No reputation measures is the critical flaw in the JOBS crowdfunding bill

By

The JOBS crowdfunding Act is a great step forward, but the potential of the entire scheme is undermined by the lack of reputation measures.

This is my first opportunity to write about the historic passing on Thursday of the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act that allows equity crowdfunding in the US.

I have covered the early moves towards equity crowdfunding in the US that resulted in this bill and included a chapter on the topic in Getting Results From Crowds. It is very exciting to see this come to fruition, in the end faster than almost anyone could have predicted.

I believe that this is a critical shift that is taking capitalism into a new phase. The capital markets are – finally – becoming more open, allowing capital to go where it will be best used.
Read more →