QuestionPro.com/ideascale - Harnessing the Masses

The consumer is the new point man in the R&D field. Companies that have gone out to the consumer for advice and feedback have gained more from it. Consumers, after all, know more about their beloved products than a team of psychologists and marketing majors in a backroom. This is why going to the masses is getting more and more popular with big companies.IdeaScale is hoping to cash in on this new trend. IdeaScales is a new site which offers to help companies find out what their consumers want. It offers a dig-like portal where users can comment, make suggestions, and vote on new ideas and suggestions. Discussion regarding the product, allow companies to monitor new thoughts and trends and implement them accordingly.

“IdeaScale™ enables companies to build living/breathing digg style communities. IdeaScale™ is based on the simple assumption of crowdsourcing your innovation engine. Call it Feedback 2.0. It combines the "wisdom of the crowds" concept with Web 2.0 models like Digg.”

IdeaScale is a sound idea. It takes R&D to the crowd and makes it easy for real consumers to give meaningful feedback.

Can IdeaScale compete with the better, executed competitors out there? Why not make the website more user friendly? How will it attract customers