How oDesk is going to change the world

Google+ may be good fun, but I truly believe that it is oDesk.com that is going to change the world. Seriously.I had an interview session the other night with Shipra Kayan, their incredibly sharp head of Interface Design and User Experience. She walked me through some of the beta tests they are doing on the employer side, and there are some great things coming.Today, there are already over 1.2 MILLION contractors available on oDesk, completing almost 2 million hours work per month -- all through the platform, and spread across dozens of countries .(https://www.odesk.com/oconomy/report/)Interestingly, USA employers make up the majority of all employers on oDesk, but only 14% of the employees. This represents a huge deficit / exporting work overseas. For years, people have talked about USA jobs shipping overseas, but that required moving factories, distribution networks, Whereas now through oDesk, jobs are divided into small bite-size tasks and bid out piece by piece to contractors from anywhere in the world. 54% of all oDesk employers said they do not have a preference where their workers come from....and why should they? As an oDesk employer I can testify to the temptation to parcel out work to a best-in-breed team, at remarkable prices. I have character animators in Bulgaria, Data entry agents in Kenya & Uganda, and 3D designers in Australia. My affiliate manager sits in the Philippines, and my customer advocacy manager is in Baton Rouge. The entire organization is virtual, sharing documents, project management and communications through Drop Box, Google Apps and Skype.Best of all, I run the entire organization through my laptop, and it really doesn't matter where I (or my laptop) are. There is very little incentive to be sitting in hot New York traffic this summer, when I can run the entire organization just as easily with my 3G broadband line by the lake in Canada.I believe, that as a greater and greater percentage of the economy moves to knowledge-based / remote-able services, platforms like oDesk are going to have far-reaching impacts on: Urban settlement & City designs, International trade flows, and organization design / culture. What started as a freelancing website might just turn in to a global economic revolution. I know I'm ready... and excited.(Disclaimer: I am an oDesk customer (employer) but have no financial interest / connection with the company.)