In a fantastic article called “The miraculous power of scale,” Chris Anderson (author of The Long Tail, describes the phenomenal ability of Wikipedia to create value for millions of people despite the abysmally low participation rates (less than 1%). He writes:

The Internet, by giving everybody access to a market of hundreds of millions of people, can work at participation rates that would be a disaster in the traditional world of non-zero marginal costs

He may as well be describing the paradigm shift to Community Driven Marketing (CDM).

Not too long ago, if you wanted a lot of people to hear about your product, you had to go out, spend the money, and do it yourself.

Now, thanks to the incredible scale of each person as a communications channel, that is no longer necessary. Like having a handful of Wikipedia editors who create value for millions, you can succeed with a small, but dedicated, group of passionate individuals who want to help you grow by giving you access to their social networks.