The following excerpts are from eMpty Pages blog:

“The phenomena of a crowd (or community) stepping forward and doing real translation work, often for no direct financial compensation is something that troubles many in the professional translation world. Mostly because they see this activity, as work being taken away from legitimate professionals or they see it as a ploy to reduce prices. While in some cases their fears may actually be justified, in the most successful uses of this approach I think it is clear that this is not true.

As I have said before, the growing momentum in the volume of content demands new production models. This momentum which exists both in the corporate world and also the general world out there simply cannot be addressed by ONLY using traditional professional translation production models. New needs require new approaches.

Another key driving force behind new crowdsourcing initiatives is the need to engage and interact with users in new markets. In new markets having active conversations with locals is key to building brand awareness and really learning about local needs and behavior. This is frequently a more important driver than cost containment as many in the industry think.” Read more.

See: eMpty Pages