Last year Facebook turned to crowdsourcing to translate Facebook into other languages with great success. Latest statistics provided by Facebook show that over 300,000 people have since participated in the translation process making Facebook available in more than 70 languages.

Facebook have now launched a system that rewards translators who will receive special icons when they reach certain milestones in the Translation application in order to highlight recognition. The awards are grouped in three categories:

• Voting Participation
• Words Published
• Translations Published

The are also various levels for the categories which are based on frequency and accuracy with regard to translating words and voting for the best translation.

A common mistake that companies make when opting for a crowdsourcing model to complete a project is that they forget to provide a rewards system. In a previous blog post “People Participation in Crowdsourcing Platforms” I highlighted direct and indirect benefits of crowdsourcing for the community that are essential to the model’s success. Facebook have provided a key indirect benefit which is recognition amongst peers. Facebook’s success with this crowdsourcing project will continue to evolve and with its ever expanding userbase which has now exceeded 350 million users. Could Facebook be offering rewards via financial compensation next?

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