My recommendation would be to outsource for as long as possible and focus your time and energy elsewhere. Build the simplest, least expensive solution possible and test whether there is sufficient marketplace demand for the concept before investing one dime more than necessary. Cheers, Frank
Very interesting concept. You need to understand the value proposition of your product to understand who is the stakeholder that you'll benefit the most. As I see it from your short description you will be obtaining lots of data from the end users (customers). This data is not really of interest ...
I think the closest I know of to what you're describing is Influitive. Influitive is SaaS software for advocate engagement, including discussion forums. They have a widget that can extend their experience into your app or website.