(CNN) -- A question. What connects Facebook enthusiasts in China busy translating the social networking site into Mandarin and a community of orthopaedic surgeons swapping ideas on how to treat spinal injuries? Facebook has called on its network of users to create new innovations to the site. The answer. They're both examples of a worldwide phenomenon that is changing the way people -- and ultimately businesses -- develop ideas. Collaborative Innovation Networks (COINs) are online communities of like-minded people working together to create innovations. Author and scientist Peter Gloor originated the term. He describes it as a "cyberteam of self-motivated people with a collective vision."
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Collaborative Innovation Networks (COINs) are online communities of innovators
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The World Wide Web and Wikipedia were both developed by COINs
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Author Peter Gloor says business needs to take notice of Web-based innovators
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Benjamin Franklin's club for mutual improvement is an early example of a COIN
In the case of @placeholder, they are the Chinese users of the site who are helping to translate it into their native language.