Jeff Howe coined the word Crowdsourcing in a 2006 article for IWired /Imagazine to describe the way in which the Internet has broken down traditional employer/employee relationships to create vibrant new enterprises that are staffed by informal, often large gatherings of enthusiasts. A few weeks before the article hit the newsstands, a Google search for the word Crowdsourcing returned zero results. One month after the article appeared, the same search returned nearly 500,000 hits. Currently, the figure is over 3 million. These days anyone and everyone can write book reviews on Amazon, post videos on Youtube, come up with new uses for Google maps or design T-shirts for Threadless. What makes this phenomenon so remarkable is that it is starting to transform the way many companies operate and to change their relationship with their customers: iStockPhoto.com has revolutionised the world of digital photography; Cambrian House is having a profound impact on the way films get made; Second Life has created a vast, profitable business with only a few formal employees but thousands of dedicated contributors. Moreover this revolution is rapidly changing our culture, introducing a consumer democracy that has never existed before. Jeff Howe has now followed up his initial, ground-breaking article with months of research, and the result is a book that will define the next stage of the Internet revolution.