Crowdsourcing Change Using Social Media

I ran across an article (and another one) that discussed First Direct (a UK bank) that is creating an open forum for discussion regarding its digital plans, website and smartphone apps, among other things. First Direct has been a leader in the banking space for using other social media outlets such as twitter to track customer satisfaction and provide customer feedback. Financial institutions have been slower than most companies to jump on the social media bandwagon (although it is more of a necessity than a bandwagon at this stage). First Direct's new lab will be a new outlet that links with other social media sites such as Facebook to monitor recommendations/suggestions in real time. This is the next level of more typical customer forum sites. It is simpler to use, is more frequently moderated and is used to cull stats. I believe other companies, if they haven't started initiatives like this, will start similar type labs.