Contribution systems won’t displace most traditional products or businesses: Wiki-Milk will not displace real milk or the dairy industry. Still, given the power of user contributions, too many business leaders are failing to look for opportunities to leverage these systems in their industries. The phenomenon may be seen as a novely by some, but it’s also because of beliefs rooted in the past. All too often, executives mistakenly view user contribution as:

An unmitigated threat to traditional for-profit businesses

But consider Schibsted, a 170-year-old Norwegian newspaper publisher that, instead of ignoring the online threat savaging much of the newspaper industry, started reinventing itself in the mid-1990s by embracing user contribution and becoming a leading European provider of online classified advertising.

Only for tech companies

But consider the Canadian grocery store chain Loblaws, which solicits online customer reviews and incorporates them in the marketing of new products.

Unreliable and error-ridden because the contributions come from amateurs

But consider the study in Nature that found volunteer-written Wikipedia to be, in general, about

as accurate as expert-written articles in Encyclopaedia Britannica’s online edition.

Just another bubble, lacking a strong business case or profit producing potential

But consider LinkedIn, whose social networking site for businesspeople now profits from numerous revenue streams: traditional ones, such as site advertising, upgrades to premium membership with more features, and paid job postings, along with more novel ones, such as tools that corporate HR departments can use to screen job candidates.

Where UCS can help your business >>

<< Potential of UCS