The “Break it Down” Blog

Quick “interesting news” post, scientists have found that the “wisdom of crowds” effect that is so commonly referenced with Web 2.0/social networking sites actually exists within each of us (assuming you are atleast of average intelligence).

More specifically, if you take a crowd of people and ask them a question, the average of the answers is typically correct (example given was “guessing jelly beans in a jar”). That sounds pretty cool, and as an individual you might feel defeated or dumber without the crowd… what researchers found though is that if a single person is given time to guess multiple times, the average of their multiple answers are typically just as accurate.

a) that is badass, cause now I’m not as dumb as I thought

b) I guess from now on I need to make decisions by giving multiple answers over the period of a few minutes… “Do you want to go to dinner?” “Yes… no… yes yes… no… yes…. ok let’s go”

c) I wonder what this means for Web 2.0/social networking sites?

Thanks The Economist!