Read that title again>>>>>>>>
Right. No way, you are thinking!
Think again!
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and social networks linked arms to do a little research …research that could potentially solve a problem of national scope in the future.
The Washington Post said, “In DARPA’s Network Challenge, tied to the 40-year anniversary of the Internet, the Department of Defense’s research arm placed 10 weather balloons in public places around the country. The first team to locate and submit the balloons’ correct geographic coordinates would get the cash prize. Ready, set, Twitter!”
The Network Challenge (remember that word “network”…we’ll come back to that later) capitalized on CrowdSourcing,
a term first coined by Wired Magazine in 2006.
It essentially means: utilizing the new pool of cheap labor: everyday people using their spare cycles to create content, solve problems, even do
corporate R & D.
In the case of DARPA’s Network Challenge, it was locating 10 weather balloons.
Just an added tidbit of info…Finding one of these 10 weather balloons was worth more than a Big Mac Meal!
Yes, $40,000 was at stake for the team who most quickly found those 10 balloons!!
Can you say and then repeat… “M-O-N-E-Y Motivates!”
The winning team was spearheaded by Riley Crane, a postdoctoral research fellow at MIT’s Media Lab. MIT’s team set up an elaborate information-gathering method that essentially used CrowdSourcing. Varying levels of financial reward went to the first person to spot the balloon, with others involved in contributing being rewarded at a smaller level. Left over money went to charity.
I believe this next part explains the Key for the winning team!
Crane says that the team’s decision to spread the wealth was instrumental to its success, as it gave people an incentive to share good information, and a feeling of investment in the process. He was less interested in the monetary prize than in the potential for social research.
Some questions asked at the end of this “high” adventure with 10 balloons! 
“Could we design an alert system to help us find missing children? Could we redesign the incentive structure for police rewards?”
Ok…hope this has intrigued you enough to read the entire coverage from the Washington Post.
This day of partnership I have described above happened back in 2009. But…it is worth noting in 2010, as there are certain ramifications for the future of network marketing! Welcome to the newest wave!
Ok…let me continue to connect the dots to network marketing. Remember that I noted that DARPA called it the
“Network” Challenge?
Can you understand how similar this is to what Darpa did to find the 10 balloons…even to the point of give financial incentives! The biggest difference? They are rewarding people for inputting just 10 license plate numbers a month in order to build a HUGE data base vs. finding 10 weather balloons!
Remember the question from above asked after the Network Challenge was over…
“Could we design an alert system to help us find missing children?”
Well…Narc Technologies’ system has given Amber Alert a free client membership to assist in doing exactly that!
The bottom line is that groups of people working together, combining both old school marketing methods (people helping people) with new school marketing tools (CrowdSourcing, Social Media), can achieve amazing results!
Welcome to what I have coined as the Age of Influence!
It is an exciting time to be alive in this economy! It is only the second paradigm shift in business models in my lifetime (I believe Franchising was the other one).
How does this bode for the future of networking marketing? I believe more companies will emerge combining CrowdSourcing and the Network Marketing model in various ways. It won’t end with just information gathering vs. offering a product. The sky and beyond is limitless!
At the end of the day, however, the bottom line is that a large group of people will endeavor to work together to accomplish a goal and millionaires,
multi-millionaires, and even billionaires will be created in the process!
I’d like to know what you think??? Are you tracking with me?
