College Kids, Badges and Cash

Crowd sourcing will change our world dramatically in the next five years.  Using crowds of people to source mass amounts of data is becoming more efficient by the day.  Social networks like Facebook and the mobility of people and technology (mobile phones) make connecting physical things/places to a digital database far easier than any of us could have imagined five years ago. 

Giving people a reason to crowd source is the biggest challenge to date. An interesting start-up, Campus Live is using a mix of badges, prizes and cash to source info accross the country from over 400 college reps, and it seems to be working.  Great article on them here on the Kelsey Group blog.

Finding what you're after takes a unique spin in all venues; colleges, amusement parks, conventions, stores, etc.  Connecting social sourcing (crowd sourcing) at the point of interest, whether it's colleges or retail stores is an exciting place to be.  At aisle411, we're working on changing the retail world forever, connecting to people at that point of interest.  Think about millions of people inside retail locations every day, all with phones, all on a mission to find what they're after...connecting with them is where we step in.  How could this change retail? Let us know what you think.