Disturbing the Peace - Crowdsourcing

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Harvesting The Long Tail with custom-created, crowd-sourced content.

Is it outsourcing content creation, editorial middle man or media sharecropping?

Daily newspapers continue to struggle as circulation declines along with advertising revenue. Readers cancel print subscriptions in favor of "free news" online. Job cuts are affecting the newsroom with increased uncertainty for journalists: ( New York Times staff cuts)

Daniel Roth's article in Wired about Richard Rosenblatt's Demand Media describes crowd-sourced content creation producing thousands of articles a day. Each feature "custom created" based upon an algorithm that seeks to extract maximum ad dollars by "giving them what they want". "Online content is not worth very much. " Is this commodity pricing to maximize the monetization? Roth says, "Rosenblatt got rid of the editors", "...gut instinct and experience were less effective ... than a formula." The experts produce the content based on first hand knowledge –not freelance journalists interviewing others. Where's the editorial oversight?

Allen Murabayashi (PhotoShelter CEO) describes the disruption to the stock photo business using analogies to the California gold rush.

Should one follow the crowd or find a way to sell jeans?