4chan: Lessons from the ultimate crowd sourcing community

They’re smart. They’re unrelenting. They’re Anonymous. 

Love them or hate them, 4chan is without a doubt the most effective crowd sourcing community on the internet, single handedly launching some its most popular memes. The idea behind the site is simple – it’s nothing more than a public imageboard where users can post anonymously. The site, started in 2003 by 15 year-old “Moot” in his bedroom, has burgeoned into a 13 million views a day community. But how did this group go from such an inconspicuous origin to accomplishing so much? 

Variety is the spice of crowd sourcing
The group is collectively known as Anonymous. It’s not just the numbers of the community that make it a force to be reckoned with - their members have a wide skill set, including code writing, programming and hacking. It’s this variety and talent of its members that make it so effective and able to make their plans a reality. Plans like putting 4chan’s founder at the top of TIME’s poll of the most influential people in the world. 

Make waves - the biggest ones you can
Recently, the community has been gaining a new level of notoriety thanks to high profile projects involving vote rigging in a contest from Oprah Winfrey and attempting to send Justin Bieber to North Korea (which we have to admit is pretty funny). Success in crowd sourcing is largely measured by media attention, so find a juicy hook to get people talking.

 

 New BFFs?

Participation has to be one thing: fun

You have 4chan to thank for many of the internets biggest memes. And they do it essentially by creating viral jokes. Sensations like Rick Rolling and lol cats get people jumping on board simply because doing so is so much fun. 

Show them something they’ve never seen before
The 4chan community is also responsible for vaulting certain videos to viral stardom. All it takes is finding something compellingly bizarre, and letting the community run with it from there. The Chocolate Rain video is perhaps the most famous, featuring nothing more than a young man with an exceptionally deep voice. It now has over 53 millions views. Crowds just love quirkiness.

Give them a compelling goal
Perhaps the biggest draw of 4chan is its ability to take on behemoths. YouTube and Google have each had their share headaches at the hands of 4chan, as well as many celebrities like the ones already mentioned. They even played a big role in helping to give the people of Iran a voice during last year’s election. Letting regular people be part of something huge is a powerful draw.

We wouldn’t recommend or condone much of what 4chan does, but there’s no denying it’s an extremely effective machine for bringing people together to accomplish a goal. They certainly have a top notch understanding of how the internet works. Gleaning some of that understanding may well help you achieve some goals of your own.

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry.