Tag Archives: Twitter


Google+, Twitter, Facebook: the new capitals of crowdsourcing?

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Tommaso De Benetti

… seems like a truly innovative feature and could be what distinguishes G+ from rivals Facebook and Twitter.

Spheres of influence

G+ circles allow users to divide contacts into separate “watertight” compartments. Google combines the idea of sharing with friends (as in Facebook lists) with the possibility of gaining followers (see Twitter). Of course, it can get a bit tricky when selecting who sees what but that’s easily fixed with a bit of careful contact sorting (or, failing that, …

Tags: crowd crowdsourcing dilbert Facebook google microtask microwork Online Communities Social network Twitter Ville Miettinen

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Twitter Predictions: the future is just 140 characters away

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Ville Miettinen

Consider Twitter: 200 million users, 7 languages, 1 billion tweets a week. Since it was founded in 2006, the site has been hyped, ridiculed, subpoenaed (by the U.S government no less) and accused of starting revolutions. From Lady Gaga to the Pope, everybody tweets.

For a Web 2.0 giant, Twitter’s functionality is surprisingly basic. But (like Ikea furniture and Forest Gump) Twitter’s …

Tags: business crowd crowdsourcing distributed work Hedge fund HP Labs Indiana University Lady Gaga microwork Pope Twitter Web 2.0

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Predicting the Facebook IPO: The crowd gets it wrong

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Ville Miettinen

… something based on the whims of a crowd than a crowd?

When voting closed, a total of 2,261 Twitter users had predicted a price of $54. This was nearly $16 above the first day closing price of $38.60 (before dropping to a downright disastrous low of $30.94). Even billionaires make mistakes, but crowds are supposed to be infallible (or at least wise), right? So why did the crowd get it so wrong?

The Social Net Worth

First off, I wonder if the crowd had actually been betting its own …

Tags: Chris Sacca crowdsourcing Facebook Facebook IPO FacebookIPODayClosingPrice.com Initial public offering Mark Zuckerberg microtask microwork Prediction Twitter

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Can crowdsourcing be used as a tool for evil?

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Tommaso De Benetti

… Crowdsourcing Terrorist

What if a status update popped up on the home page of every Facebook or Twitter saying if they want to save the Eiffel Tower, they must visit such and such website (I’ll provide details of this site and bank numbers at a later date) and click the “donate $5” button. If the target figure of $5 million is not reached in 12 hours, the Eiffel Tower will be blown up. Essentially what I’m talking about is a cross between crowdfunding site Kickstarter and those …

Tags: Batman crowdsourcing Eiffel Tower Facebook Joker Kickstarter microtask microwork Supervillain Twitter

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Crime-sourcing: the dark side of the crowd

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Ville Miettinen

… not their choice of “reward”.

The sheer range of crime-sourcing plots is jaw-dropping: from Twitter organized flash robs to shady Mafia-type gangs who recruit virtual mules to launder money and receive stolen goods. Then there are cyber-crimes where the crowd actively participates, like the notorious LulzSec group’s “hacking hotline” which got people to vote on who the group’s next hacking victim should be (must have caused Sarah Palin some serious DDoS problems). …

Tags: captcha Computer crime crowd crowdsourcing Denial-of-service attack microwork Misha Glenny Nigeria Sarah Palin Twitter Yahoo! Mail

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