Crowdsourcing example: bmi uses Flickr photos in web design

by Josiah Mackenzie on February 06, 2009

I’ve received some good feedback about my post on crowdsourcing yesterday. Some of you wanted examples of how to integrate user-generated content (UGC) in web design.

This morning I was looking for a flight out of London and visited the bmi website:

If you take a closer look, what appears to be stock photography is actually a photo from Flickr:

In a news release announcing the website design, bmi’s marketing director Katherine Gershon said:

We…wanted to break away from traditional airline website design and re-create the feeling of flying on the website itself. The usage of flickr photography does just that and enables us to engage with online communities and we are really excited by the social networking opportunities of this relationship.

They’ve even gone a step further and included Flickr photography in their magazine. I think this is a great example of leveraging the power of content co-creation.

What do you think? Could you do something like this in your website or marketing collateral?

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Article by Josiah Mackenzie // February 06, 2009 Josiah helps hospitality organizations use technology and the social web to provide better service and generate more profits.