crowdsourcing

noun

crowd·sourc·ing | \ ˈkrau̇d-ˌsȯr-siŋ

Definition of crowdsourcing

: the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers Online crowdsourcing strategies that induce masses of people to solve a task, such as locating far-flung items or alleviating world hunger, work best when financial incentives impel participants to enlist friends and acquaintances in the effort, a new study concludes.— Bruce Bower These sites take advantage of the phenomenon known as crowdsourcing, or turning to the online masses for free or low-cost submissions.— Katie Hafner

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Other Words from crowdsourcing

crowdsource transitive verb crowdsourced; crowdsourcing

But many people don't know the story behind Legos—how the company, on the verge of collapse, crowdsourced its future by polling its most hardcore fans, or how the little blocks have exploded to become a major force in education … — Smithsonian

Examples of crowdsourcing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The company is seeking input from consumers to help name the e-bikes, offering $10,000 for the top submission in a crowdsourcing campaign, and $1,000 each to nine runners-up. — Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, "GM is now making e-bikes, and it needs your help naming them," 2 Nov. 2018 With any crowdsourcing platform, take the reviews with a grain of salt — and watch out for fake reviews. — Rick Steves' Europe, The Seattle Times, "Book smart when looking for lodging in Europe," 25 Sep. 2018 Just as streaming services have expanded the distribution channels, funding options have multiplied with private-equity firms, grants and crowdsourcing. — Benjamin Din, WSJ, "A Renaissance for Documentaries," 2 Sep. 2018 But like political betting markets, such donation trends have the advantage of crowdsourcing. — Chris Stirewalt, Fox News, "No, free market conservatives are not becoming Dems," 31 July 2018 The crowdsourcing effort continues; nearly 2,500 people have contributed to History Unfolded, which now features more than 15,000 article clippings. — Meg Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Yes, Milwaukee newspapers reported on the Holocaust. But was it fully understood?," 3 May 2018 To have robust technology as well as crowdsourcing is probably the way forward. — Lilly Milman, Billboard, "WhoSampled Remixes Mobile App With Music Recognition Feature: Exclusive," 28 June 2018 The crowdsourcing site had raised more than $48,000 as of Friday. — Rafael Guerrero, Elgin Courier-News, "Carpentersville man who lost legs in boating accident getting wheelchair-friendly house from team of volunteers," 14 July 2018 CompStak taps a crowdsourcing system to gather specific lease details from brokers and others who report the data in exchange for access to other CompStak information. — Keiko Morris, WSJ, "VTS Plans Tool to Help Commercial Real Estate Clients Track Market Trends," 18 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'crowdsourcing.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.