Sourcing Big Data from Social Media

Social media is a major source of big data. Besides the big social networks, crowdsourcing and co-creation are approaches to directly engaging with consumers to sourcing data.

Crowdsourcing 

Crowdsourcing is the process of soliciting ideas or content from a large group of people, usually an online community. LEGO IDEAS, an example covered in the chapter New Product Development, uses a crowdsourcing programme to source ideas for new Lego projects.

Co-creation 

Co-creation is an off-shoot of crowdsourcing, which involves smaller group of individuals with specialized skills. It is used increasingly to generate ideas for the development of advertising and new products. Examples include consumers building their own shoes (Nike), conceiving their own pizzas (Papa John’s), and generating advertising content for companies like Coca-Cola, General Motors and Microsoft.