Emergent Chaos

My friend Austin Hill has a new blog, Billions With Zero Knowledge. He's got a really good post up "Crowdsourcing or Community Production - An Interview with Hugh McGuire from Librivox."

What's most interesting to me is how new companies are trying to tap into customer enthusiasm to build not only value for their customers, but a community. The companies that really succeed at building a community will find it a double edged sword--their communities will be their biggest asset, and the hardest thing to change. At the same time, it's done great things for companies like Flickr, and it's a welcome change to be treated as a person, rather than as a monetizable eyeball.