Two recent examples in crowd-sourcing should serve as case studies in be careful what you wish for. One is a minor embarrassment, the other could impact a product launch.
The home run derby is MLB's answer to the slam dunk contest and similarly is the best part of the entire festivities. To try and increase "engagement" on their page, ESPN offered up an open-ended poll about who people thought would win the home run derby. Noble, but maybe not thought through to the end. A recent quote from Bryce Harper ("That's a clown question bro") ended up beating some actual players.
Mountain Dew recently asked people to submit names and vote up the most popular to become the name for their drink. Somehow I don't think Diabeetus was what they had in mind.
I love engaging audiences for participating in brand development, but I think that both of these could be done with limits and still achieve positive results.
Letting people submit names, have them shortlisted by Mountain Dew with attribution to the contributor and then voted on would achieve the program goals. Some goes for a closed poll with only the participants as options.
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