Crowdsurf the blogosphere

I’ve just stumbled across the Techdirt Insight Community whilst reading Judy’s blog. This is a service that they launched last week (currently in beta form) which basically seems to be a Mechanical Turk type offering for companies looking for advice and answers from the blogosphere.

 

Companies can pay to pose a specific question which TechDirt will then fire out to relevant (registered) bloggers. Bloggers can then post their replies and thoughts in what then becomes an open (blind: bloggers and companies remain anonymous) discussion. In essence it will become a bloggers focus group, and whilst Techdirt are quick to point out this won’t give a true reflection of populous opinion, it does seem to be a great way of businesses getting informed and knowledgeable insight. Bloggers will then receive payment for their participation.

 

I’ll be keen to see this one develop.