It is undeniable that there have been several key moments that have changed the way we use technology in our society. From Gutenberg printing the Bible with movable type, to the televised Presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960, to the dot com boom of the late 1990s; these events have all had an impact on how technology shapes the way we live our lives. Perhaps another key moment took place in 2008 when Barry Libert and Jon Spector published their book We Are Smarter Than Me: How to Unleash the Power of Crowds in Your Business.
The goal of the book was to answer two questions. First, the authors wanted to know why community approaches work (or not) when it comes to marketing, business development, distribution, and other business practices. Secondly, the men were interested in finding out what companies have to do to make those community approaches even more successful. What makes this different from other books is the fact that the two men used social media to put it together.
Libert and Spector invited over 1 million users to contribute their answers to these questions in a wiki community. The men gathered answers from comments made by members on the wiki, forums, podcasts, related blog posts, and in-person comments. Web 2.0 technologies have never been used to this extent when creating a book. This collaboration by a wide audience highlights the idea that individuals are more likely to participate if you give them more opportunities to voice their ideas.
As Web 2.0 technologies make mass collaboration like this easier, it will be interesting to see if the publication of this book will be looked at as a turning point in the process of book writing.
This is a clip of an interview with Barry Libert where he talks about the goals of writing and process behind creating We Are Smarter Than Me with Jon Spector.
When I first read this article for class I could not believe that the authors did not have to pay all of the people that contributed to the book that they ended up publishing. If I remember correctly, there were something like 250 consistent writers that made some hefty contributions to the wiki. If I were to create a book I would certainly use a wiki to have others help me write. I use the term create, not write, because that is essentially what these authors did. They edited together many people’s ideas and views, from what it seems, writing was not involved on their part. Regardless, We are smarter than me is an interesting look into collaboration through social networks.
Adding to Joey’s comment, I definitely think a wiki is a great idea to write (create) this sort of book. Essentially the wiki is attracting those “experts” on the topic, whether it’s consumers, PR practitioners, or CEOs. All of them have something valuable to say and they are willing to give their advice and comments to better the book, much like constituents are bettering the companies by participating in social media. Not to mention this expert opinion and comments are all FREE! How can that be legal? But I’m sure Libert and Spector gave credit, where credit is due. Great job linking the concept of collaboration in two different ways, one through the author’s wiki and two with the YouTube video explaining the types of collaboration discussed in “We Are Smarter Than Me.”
I was wondering how the profits of this book were dispersed as well. I know that this project was an experiment, so maybe the money went towards covering the printing and publication costs or each person got a cut depending on the size of their contribution? Either way, I think that the book was a great success and really demonstrated the way that wikis can be used to bring the knowledge of “experts” and professionals in a specific industry together. I am interested to see if other industries use “We Are Smarter Than Me” as an example and create books that are related to their industries. I hope that this book will be the first of many collaborative books because the information that can be gained from hundreds or even thousands of individuals is so much more valuable than the information that can be gained from an individual or even a handful of professionals. In addition, while I am sure that much time was spent editing the book and tying the ideas together, I can’t even imagine how long it would take to otherwise gain access to all of the knowledge and ideas that are presented in “We Are Smarter Than Me.”
Te creation of this book on a wiki leaves a lot of questions in my mind. First, legal and copyright issues, then editing, and of course how do you thank everyone? But all of that aside, this book creation confirms that social media works and is here to stay. Making this book demonstrates the reach of the internet, power of social media and the desire for people to get connected and participate. If you put the question out there, someone will answer. To me, this proves that every company should be considering some kind of social media because there are millions of people out there with an interest exploring the web. If a company misses the opportunity to connect with these people, they will connect elsewhere.