Today we are very proud to announce a partnership with Parse, the leading mobile and desktop application platform, to bring crowdsourced photo moderation to Parse-powered applications with the CrowdFlower Cloud Module.

As Parse writes today on their blog:

“Cloud Modules are the easiest way to integrate a Parse app with third-party services and libraries like the already released Twilio, Mailgun, and SendGrid Cloud Modules. The CrowdFlower Cloud Module, the latest addition to the Parse ecosystem, gives Parse application developers access to RTFM or Real Time Foto Moderator. Many applications include photo sharing amongst friends, family, and the world. Moderating these images can take a lot of time and resources. By crowdsourcing this tedious task, developers that create applications that include photo-sharing, like the Parse-powered TOMS app, don’t have to create a complex workflow to manage moderation. Parse developers now have the power of millions of eyes moderating their content with just a few lines of code.

Here’s a look at how the Crowdflower Cloud Module works:

var crowdflower = require("crowdflower");
crowdflower.initialize("crowdflowerKey");

Parse.Cloud.define("myCrowdFlowerFunction", function(request, response) {
  crowdflower. submitImage({
    image : {
      url: request.params.url
      metadata: {
        objectId: request.params.objectId
      }
    }
  }, {
    success: function(httpResponse) { response.success("Image submitted!"); },
    error: function(httpResponse) { response.error("Uh oh, something went wrong"); }
  });
});

To learn about this new Cloud Module, take a look at the Parse documentation page.”

At CrowdFlower, we’re celebrating this partnership for many reasons. When we initially designed and released RTFM, we did so specifically with app developers in mind. We know that mobile apps will continue to create large amounts of user-generated content. Our market research indicated that content moderation can be a challenge for app developers, particularly small teams. Most developers struggle with the decision whether or not to moderate content; those who do moderate have to decide whether or not to devote internal resources to developing a proprietary moderation tool. We see the power of crowdsourcing every day, and we wanted to make it more accessible to the developer community. Now developers who moderate photos via the Parse Cloud Module can easily integrate photo moderation while leveraging our experience with crowd management and quality control.

Our partnership with Parse has been taking shape for most of 2012, and we are thrilled that this Cloud Module is now available. If you have suggestions for improvement or ideas for other partnerships, please drop us a note at: rtfm at crowdflower dot com.

CrowdConf is nearly here and we are excited to welcome back Shelley Kuipers, Founder and CEO of Chaordix, as a speaker at this year’s conference. With CrowdConf just around the corner, here are some great insights from Shelley about crowdsourcing and participation, to get you excited for the big event. Looking forward to seeing you Tuesday!

Forward thinking brands such as Patagonia, LEGO, Muji and their fans have long understood the value of social spaces and events (first physical, then digital) where they could meet, interact and co-create the future together. Today, companies, organizations, and geographic communities need to become fully oriented toward embracing transparent and authentic collaboration with their crowds.

Although some early attention has been given to shifting the role customers can play in brand communities and innovation processes, this open, participatory and collaborative shift can also engage crowds of employees, suppliers, alliances and citizens. From the foundation of social media and early wins in open innovation, the social enterprise and the open government movement have emerged. I believe that a very important aspect of brand and citizen participation will also involve work in developing nations to give voice to emergent participants both social and commercial; this holds much promise for brands and communities who want to step up and meet the authentic and clearly-articulated needs and wants of this wave of new voices.

True, sustainable and meaningful communities can emerge from crowdsourcing when the collective wisdom of their participants is respected and the brand understands that they’re building long-term, collaborative relationships together, rather than drive-by idea-hunting forums. When communities and brand leaders accept that fostering customer and employee participation in a brand comes with positive and negative feedback, they’ll see that a well-managed (and transparently resolved) criticism can be as valuable as a positive net-new idea.

To be fully engaged, returning community members need a compelling participant experience, regular feedback and encouragement, not just badgering with periodic one-way surveys and idea contests. Brands will reap the respect and attention that they sow. Participants need to be rewarded intrinsically and (when appropriate) extrinsically for thoughtful and helpful contributions – it should be baked into the culture and design of any crowdsourcing community.

The loudest people don’t always have the best insights, but wisdom can ultimately be found in a crowd, if you’re open and patient.

Ross Dawson is leading a Crowd Business Models Summit the day before CrowdConf and we are excited to hear what he plans to cover in this intensive half-day program. Come learn about relevant business models for your company and maximize your time at CrowdConf, especially for those visiting from out of town. Here is a preview from Ross Dawson of what to expect at the Summit.

New applications of crowdsourcing are providing major new opportunities for business, society, and government. More broadly, they are fundamentally disrupting the traditional work model as we see a fundamental global shift to distributed work and value creation.

One of the most important aspects of this shift is the rise of ‘crowd business models,’ that is based on the creation of value by the crowd.

In my recent book, Getting Results From Crowds, I take a look at these various business models and analyze their benefits and challenges.

Some models, such as design competitions, have being used for many decades, drawing on the participation of many to find the best. While newer crowd-based models have being enabled by the rapid rise of connectivity and bandwidth. A few of the better known examples include Wikipedia which consists of reference content generated by many, service marketplaces such as Freelancer.com and Odesk which bring together supply and demand for talent, prediction markets that aggregate opinions into insights, and crowd design platforms such as Quirky that enable ideas from crowds to be captured and brought to life.

I would argue that a majority of business models are incorporating elements of crowdsoucing such as ratings, product feedback, and social media sharing. While crowd business models are increasingly important for entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate executives, so far relatively little attention has been paid to the idea and its applications.

At the Crowd Business Models Summit we will bring together industry leaders who have experience and insights to share in the field of crowd business models. We will delve into the success factors for crowd business models, in attracting and rewarding contributions, creating value, and monetizing that value creation. We will also look into the future of crowd business models, where they are going, where the opportunities lie, and what entrepreneurs need to do to seize that value.

The event will be highly participatory, helping to generate insights not just for those present, but also the broader community, in developing and refining useful frameworks for crowd business models and how to make them successful.

It promises to be a not-to-be-missed event, packed into an intense half-day session, to help kickoff CrowdConf the following day. I hope you can join us!

-Ross Dawson

I’ve been playing with IdealList, CrowdFlower’s new business data tool that collects online information about companies.

I collected information about around 1200 small business in Houston and San Francisco evenly distributed across Pizza Shops, Florists, Sushi Restaurants, Strip Clubs and Private Investigators.

I was surprised to see that small businesses in Houston have more of a social media presence than those in San Francisco.  I’m not sure if I’m surprised that Strip Clubs and Private Investigators have been slow to move online.