Crowdsourcing has enabled the creation of online platforms like aNobii that leverage the wisdom of crowds. ANobii is a social networking site for book lovers that allows users to catalog books, write reviews, create lists, and connect with other readers. It has over 400,000 members and almost 17 million books catalogued through user contributions. While aNobii faces sustainability challenges as a free social platform relying on partnerships, its crowdsourced model has made it a leader for online reading communities in Italy through the collaborative efforts of its global volunteer base.

1. - the ultimate library
Crowdsourcing as a Business Model
in the web 2.0 Era

2. “Technological advances in everything from product design software to digital video
cameras are breaking down the cost barriers that once separated amateurs from
professionals. (…) It’s not outsourcing; it’s crowdsourcing.”
Jeff Howe - The rise of Crowdsourcing
+ Outsourcing =
The Wisdom of the Crowd

3. Web 2.0
The Social Web
The Prosumers’ Web
From Wikipedia: “The term "Web 2.0" (2004–present) is commonly
associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing,
interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide
design
Web.
Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web
applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups,
and folksonomies. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other users or
to change website content, in contrast to non-interactive websites where users
are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them.”

4. Anobium Punctatum (lat.)=Book Worm
The IDEA:
create an online platform for avid readers to share reviews,
recommendations, and most important of all, find like-minded
booklovers;
Anobii.com is a different form of social experience as it aims to
build an online reading group.

5. aNobii.com
facts
Founder: Greg Sung
Privately launched in August 2005
FREE access and participation
400,000 members according to wikipedia
web site available in 16 languages
Almost 17 mln books catalogued through
ISBN;

6. KEY ACTIVITIES
Social Networking
Similar shelves
Discussion
Groups
Neighbours
User’s Review
Library 2.0
Wish list
Due date alert
Margin notes
Shelf stats
SIDE ACTIVITY Trade through Ibs and Amazon, Swap, Lend and Borrow

7. ---------- Forwarded message ----------
GOVERNANCE
From: Greg Sung <greg.sung@gmail.com>
Date: 2010/2/8
Subject: Re: student's question to Greg Sung
To: Dasha Averyanova <d.averyanova@gmail.com>
Cc: contact@anobii.com
Dear Daria,
> - What is the governance model of aNobii?
At the core, we are a small tight-knitted team of developers and
designers. But the interesting thing is you could say that aNobii to a Volunteers all
large degree is not run by us only but also by the users themselves.
We build the platform so users can help themselves - from adding new
over the world
books to our database to translating our interface into different
languages.
> - Do you break even?
At this moment not yet but we are getting there. Our goal is to
achieve that in the first half of this year. This is an important
milestone because we need to make sure the platform is financially
sustainable. We owe it our users to stay in business and grow! HK
> - How many employees do you currently have? Team
We have 8 full-time
> - What are your costs?
90% is salary + server expenses
> - Do you receive commissions from Amazon and Ibs?
Yes we do. They are important revenue sources
> Looking forward for your reply you and we promise to send you our paper, when it will be finished,

8. COMPETITORS

9. RESULTS
“Market” leader in Italy
315th more viewed italian website…
virtuous circle! (Goodreads is only
the 860th most viewed in the US)
All these figures are sourced from aNobii.com & alexa.com information

10. RESULTS
 Traffic rank grew from 9,494 to
6,435 in just 3 months
All these figures are sourced from aNobii.com & alexa.com information

11. aNobii VS Threadless
aNobii is an example of WEB2.0 Collective Intelligence…
…but is aNobii a case of CROWDSOURCING?
Similarities Differences
•Innovation coming directly •money motivation: any reward
from users’ mind to prosumer selected
•Outsourcing to users of •Participation of users is not in
decisions creation of the final product, but
•Rating, voting, averaging in the creation of its reputation
•Volunteers, self-selection (reviews)
•Task granularity (Lakhani, •Feedback circulation do not
Panetta, 2007) change products
•Motivations of love and Glory •No hierarchy

12. BUSINESS MODEL
The Economy of Reputation
“The website works because control is bottom-up.
Everything emerges from users and they are the reason of the success.
On the other side, we are able to listen to them and satisfy their needs”.
Greg Sung, April 2009
economy of reputation : Generation of value through rating and review, two
mechanisms. Ratings increase reputation and allow the user to share its feelings.
word of mouth : recommendations propagating directly from one user to another,
advertising that you can trust more than the one diffused by mass media (Dye,
2000).
all about community users : readers, writers (storytelling) and volunteers, called
"Librarians”. Social influence (Watts, 2007). WOM is more crucial than in other
business

13. GENOME
Thomas W. Malone,
Comparison what who why how Robert Laubacher
Chrysanthos Dellarocas
aNobii Create Book rewiews Crowd Love Collection
Glory
Create Translations Volunteers Love Collection
Decide Which Crowd Love Voting
translation to
publish
Decide Which reviews Volunteers Love Group decision
are fake (consensus)
Decide Charts Crowd Love Group
(averaging)/Indivi
dual decision
Theadless Create T-shirt designs Crowd Love Contest
Money
Glory
Decide Which designs Crowd Love Averaging
are best
Decide Which designs Mgmt Money Hierarchy
to use

14. BUSINESS MODEL
a case of Social Commerce
KEY DECISION:
Contract with online book stores such as Ibs and Amazon
April, 2009: complementary partnership (Kale&Singh, 2009) with IBS in Italy
Complementary partnership is an alliance between partners with complementary
skills/activities that fills the mutual gap in the value chain, determinant of
reciprocity (Oliver, 1990).
Motivations for selection:
 Ibs has been chosen in a crowdsourcing style: with a survey among Italian
aNobiians!
 Ibs is the leader online bookstore in Italy (selling 30% total books sold online,
according to School of Management-Politecnico in Milan)
 Amazon has no branch in Italy

15. MUTUAL BENEFITS
“The Internet, instead of killing literature, is the way in which it has been
brought to a new life. Moreover, web 2.0 is providing audience to small and
middle publishing houses opportunities for booksellers, no threat!”
Mauro Zerbini, Ibs CEO - Milan on 1st April, 2009
aNobii to access knowledge Ibs to buy
Share of revenues from sales More reviews and comments
Indipendence
Ibs Catalogue Direct link to prospective buyers
Cross-statistics
Enhanced visibility in Italian Enhanced 2.0 flexibility and
Market visibility

16. DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

17. DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

18. DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

19. CRITICALITIES
“Social networks have a difficult business model and this
makes them vulnerable to be acquired by bigger
companies”.
Greg Sung - aNobii Creator and Administrator
SUSTAINABILITY is the main challenge: lack of business model to affirms need
to make profits. How to avoid it?
The platform ETHIC:
 censorship free: negative reviews are left if they are not offensive (autonomy
of social side from commercial)
 Free Subscription
 No advertising: (supported by Amazon/Ibs commissions)
COMPETITORS: Many other consumer webs are dedicated to book lovers and
the web is a trend-sensitive environment

20. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
to sustainability
 Fundraising
Campaign (like
wikipedia does)
 Consultancy (i.e.
testing sample e-book
for prospective
publications)
 3.0 Web Blue Ocean
Competitive advantage

21. Questions?
Analysis by:
Averyanova Daria
Caroti Cristina
L’Hopital Guillaume
Speri Alessandra
Wu Xu