Crowdsourcing is about to become so ubiquitous; that the term is going to lose meaning (if it has any now). In fact; crowdsourcing has already changed how we live.

Crowdsourcing means relying on the crowds (anonymous people) to complete tasks otherwise performed by one person; or one company. The growth of the internet enables crowdsourcing since it allows many anonymous people to interact without meeting or leaving their homes- and instantly contribute to the crowd aggregate.

Snakes on a Plane is a prime example of crowdsourcing. Specifically; the hype around the divulged movie title ‘snakes on a plane’ grew to such a fervor online that online user requests ended up defining the dialogue and content of the movie. From a single movie concept- the content became crowdsourced; where thousands of internet users provided the direction otherwise provided by 1 writer.

midVentures takes full advantage of crowdsourcing. We find designers on 99designs.com; where companies source design work to any wandering freelance designer; and your company only pays when you use their work.

Elance.com, Getafreelancer.com, Dice.com- these are all ways of crowdsourcing your opening to the marketplace. Anonymous strangers review candidate providers; and you benefit from the reviews of the crowds.

Wikipedia is nothing if not crowdsourced knowledge.

Lastly; Craigslist is the unspoken lord of crowdsourcing. Not because of what you ask for- but because of what you do not ask for. When I post an ad for a developer opening at midVentures.com; freelancers apply. But the crowds also reply with ideas and responses.

Posting to Craigslist has attracted the attention of dozens of entrepreneurs combing the list and looking for cool projects. Not always for work- sometimes just to chat. If I post an idea to craigslist; I crowdsource the responses and criticism to that idea. Its like crowdsourcing your imagination to a world of craigslist combers.

Facebook Apps and iPhone Apps are essentially crowdsourced development studios. Instead of facebook and apple developing everything in-house; development is crowdsourced to micro-entrepreneurs. (No offense.)

Even the phenomenon of open source only really reaches peak interest when it leverages crowd sourcing. Friends collaborating is old open source. Strangers collaborating is new open source.

My predictions? We aren’t entering the freelance economy. Well, we are, in a sense. More significantly, we are entering the crowdsourced economy. If you are good at something; start doing it, and the crowds will identify your talent. As your portfolio of work grows; you’ll get paid for it- either by employment or contract work. Crowdsourcing lowers the barriers of entry to a skill down to nothing; but it also enables new entries to rise as high as possible. There is no barred entry- and no ceiling- to crowdsourced skills.

Law, Medicine, and Corporate Finance will take time to capitalize on crowdsourcing. But news- media- project collaboration- software development- sales- marketing- and socializing are already immersed.

How does crowdsourcing affect my midVentures business philosophy? Listen to the crowds; or you will lose the next team member- customer- and idea.