Gannett on Crowdsourcing

Jeff Howe has some breaking news about Gannett’s plans for the future. It seems that they are taking the next step in social media integration - this time outsourcing story research to the masses. As Jeff reports:

Of all the pilot projects the company has conducted over the last few months, the most promising would seem to be the crowdsourcing of in-depth investigations into government malfeasance. Crowdsourcing involves taking functions traditionally performed by employees and using the internet to outsource them to an undefined, generally large group of people. The compensation is usually far less than what an employee might make for performing the same service. Well-known examples include Wikipedia and iStockphoto.

“We’ve already had some really amazing results with the crowdsourcing element of this,” said Jennifer Carroll, Gannett’s VP for new media content. “Most of us got into this business because we were passionate about watchdog journalism and public service, and we’ve just watched those erode. We’ve learned that no one wants to read a 400-column-inch investigative feature online. But when you make them a part of the process they get incredibly engaged.”

Source: Wired.com, “Gannett to Crowdsource News”

I have to commend Gannett for experimenting with this medium. While they’ve made a firm committment to this direction, it is still largely experimental in nature. As one executive notes: “We’re serious about this… Do we have it licked? No. But we’re ahead of the curve. By maybe half a step.”

Ahead of the curve indeed. I’m curious how much of an advantage this truly provides. Ultimately, the medium we’re attempting to wrangle provides quite a bit more transparency into the processes involved. While Gannett might have the largest body of experience - that experience is not necessarily exclusive nor proprietary. I am sure that there is some advantage, but perhaps there’s more to learn from the establish players who are actively tackling these problems.

Naturally, I think that the largest problem still is on the input side rather than the output. The key challenges revolve around managing a workforce and providing the storytelling experience the traditional media consumer’s palette is adjusted to. Like it or not, we bloggers, as journalists, still have a lot left to learn.

The question is who will learn the right lessons first?

technorati tags:crowdsourcing, media, social+media, social+news, gannett