Just like we learned in preschool…

…sharing is good.  Yes, it’s as simple as that, and it applies to more than just divvying up the Crayolas or the action figures.  In chapters 5 through 8 of Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams’ Wikinomics, the authors stress the importance of companies embracing their customers as co-innovators.  Of course, when it comes to sharing the “secret sauce”, many corporations have a hard time understanding how they can do this and remain profitable.  It’s definitely a valid concern, and I don’t think we have all the answers to this yet…but many of the examples cited in Wikinomics show that we’re at least heading in the right direction. 

Tapscott and Williams introduce a new term for these customers turned innovators: the prosumers.  “Prosumption,” they write, “is becoming one of the most powerful engines of change and innovation that the business world has ever seen.  Cocreating with customers is like tapping the most uniquely qualified pool of intellectual capital ever assembled, a reservoir of talent that is as keenly and uniquely enthusiastic about creating a great product or service as you are.”

Amazon is a great example of a company that’s embraced its prosumers.  Those who participate on Amazon.com have the opportunity to earn referral fees from products they imbed on their Web site or news feed, rate the products they buy, and so on.  Jeff Barr of Amazon’s Web services says that Amazon wouldn’t be able to make such great innovative strides if they didn’t open up their tools and data to the public: 

“The more data that we’re able to put in the hands of developers, the more interesting tools, sites, applications will be built, and the more of those that exist, the greater the return to Amazon.  We’re going to see more traffic, more clicks, and ultimately we’ll see more purchases.”

Another great example of a company that loves its prosumers is Threadless, a Chicago-based t-shirt company.  Their design team?  Anyone on the Web.  Users submit their designs to Threadless, and then the community votes on the ones they’d like to see printed on shirts.  The designs with the most votes win, and the creators of those designs are paid anywhere from $500-2,000.  Apparently the business model is working, because Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart, creators of Threadless, pull in an annual revenue of about $15 million.

All companies who want to be successful in the future need to embrace their customers as co-creators.  It’s certainly easier said than it is done, and coming up with a way to allow collaboration while still making a profit is definitely challenging.  But in order to remain relevant in a Web 2.0 world, this is a must for corporations everywhere.