Summary
This article examines the motivations of the Threadless community to participate on the site, captured through interviews.
Description
Based on 17 interviews with members of the crowd at Threadless, the present study adds qualitatively rich data on a new crowdsourcing case to an existing body of quantitative data on motivations for participation in crowdsourcing. Four primary motivators for participation at Threadless emerge from these interview data: the opportunity to make money, the opportunity to develop one's creative skills, the potential to take up freelance work, and the love of community at Threadless. A fifth theme is also discussed that addresses the language of ‘addiction’ used by the interviewees to describe their activity on the site.