Springwise, one of those consultancies that makes a fortune spotting trends for clients, is recruiting trend finders from around the world and offering them prizes: eight trends spotted and used gets you an iPod Shuffle. They write about “crowd clout” and then use it; smart. Not a bad idea for newspapers. Except some of the stuff they are spotting comes via blogs and what do the bloggers who originally found or wrote about the trend get in the deal?
I’d say Springwise would be wiser even wiser to keep track of the sources and offer them rewards. Imagine if out of nowhere, you got an email from them saying they’d discovered three new trends thanks to you and in appreciation, would you like a DVD? They’d get good will, promotion, more trendspotters, and more trends. Newspapers would get surprise promotion and more news.
This is about turning around the usual media equation: Instead of asking the outsiders in, you turn things inside-out and go to them.
