Think you’ve got the gift of foresight? The Washington Post has partnered with Predictify, an online polling service, to create a “Prediction Center” that allows readers to vote on possible outcomes for selected stories. Users will be able to leave their predictions and discuss their beliefs on an integrated comment thread, with the most accurate participants appearing on a leaderboard. You can access the main Predictify hub here.
Predictify, which launched in 2007, goes beyond basic polling systems by integrating discussion features and monitoring a users’ accuracy score across the entire service. While there isn’t currently a way to weight one question more than another, the site’s algorithm does take into account the type of question and the accuracy rate of participants. Besides the Washington Post, Predictify is also found on The New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle’s sites.
To offer an incentive for users to take part in the polls, the site has also implemented a premium program that allows companies to sponsor a poll and reward the most accurate participants with cash. In return, these sponsors are entitled to the demographics data that the service asks for with each vote. CEO Parker Barrile says that at this point it isn’t clear if the Washington Post will be making use of this feature, but if it does it will clearly distinguish sponsored polls from normal content.
While this partnership isn’t groundbreaking by any means, it serves as a reminder that “old media” is willing to embrace the interactivity afforded by the web. Whether or not the Washington Post’s implementation of Predictify will be popular remains to be seen, but for now it’s a big score for the service.
Note: TechCrunch is syndicated to WashingtonPost.com.
I predict this is going to get me, and a few more people, to subscribe to the Washington Post’s RSS. Looking forward to how the Internet public will take this and what we’ll do with it in the end.
Ya Washington post want to be Prediction GURU and its nice to have such a great feature…
I predict I am going to join Predictify soon – don’t wanna pass up an oppurtunity for free money
There are links between politics and Terrorism in India and elsewhere. I found that in India Rajeev Gandhi was assasinated when according to Media reports he stopped backing LTTE for what Sri Lanka called Terrorism and Indian Tamils called their freedom movement. Also Pakistan supports terrorism in India which India calls terrroism and Muslims call it JEHAD or movement for freedom. So the conclusion is that politicians are people with Strong Idea’s about society and they can go to any extent to prove their ideological mettle.
So these leaders manipulate the society so that they can gain power in Society. So what is called terrorism in one country is surely not terrorism for another human being. So it shows the flaws in Continent wise subjective human judgement, logic and conclusion.
The rest of the people are always like mushed sheep. They work day to night sleep, reproduce and heed to what their leader has to say to them. So the Human Race is like cattle who are guided by leaders who are like the Shepherds dogs or Ushers.
So coming to the question of Indian setting. CPM is linked to Naxalite Movement. Congress MLA’s are found to be making grenades at home and supporting terrorism. BJP with its VHP is just like a terrorist outfit. Shiv Sena is labelled by UN as a Terrorist outfit equivalent to Muslim jehad groups. So this is a country of people who are backed by terrorism to bring about intervention in the World Order.
So how can one stop terrorism. Simple by not electing these criminal minded people to parlimant. But then in two, three main parties in India what is the alternative.
Recent events in India draw my attention. The Congress completed 4 years and other parties were interested in tasting and savouring power. So there were multitude of sabotage events in the coutry which increased Inflation. But when congress bought its Confidence victory by buying votes for 25 crores each, there were again explosions in parts of country. Could you guess who could be behind this failure to grab power.
Come on guys we all know that terrorists are misguided mushed people with no thinking and vision and are just remote controlled, then any IDIOT would guess who could be the mastermind remote controller behind terrorists.
Politicians OF COURSE.
What is so important in this?
This is a great benefit for not only Washington Post but for Predictify as well. I am definitely going to sign up for Predictify and try to win some cash. These media companies need this online, exciting engagement and this seems to be a perfect solution to keep readers engaged.
This is a great move by the Washington Post. Online newspapers like the WaPo have huge reach but low engagement. At Hubdub (www.hubdub.com) we’ve found that trading predictions is exceptionally engaging (and addictive!). I’m sure that is Predictify’s experience as well.
I predict we will see many more deals like this.
amazing
if you like this, you should try http://www.williamhill.com
Most people predicted that Old Media would be buried once the internet became ubiquitous but as this article says: [The future of the Internet] will lie in how it is exploited by the Old Media, not how it buries the Old Media.” The integration of television with internet is rising (the recent deal between Amazon and TiVo is a good example.
Predictify: Thrive Or Fail [VOTE] http://snurl.com/36i90 [www_thriveorfail_com]
But is there an API? I’d love to tie a project I’ve already got in the works into this…
The left will denounce President Obama for destroying free speech when his administration declares cyperspace a national resource like airspace thus treating Internet the same as citizen band radio with yearly registeration and user fees.
News stories in the our ‘mainstream media’ *already are* essentially just predictions! All speculation…
I am predicting a success!
Thanks for the supportive comments and great feedback. We’re excited to have you join the fun at Predictify!
For those who are interested in using Predictify for their own projects (e.g. George), we have a number of self-service options. Users can post a question and even create their own prediction center for free in just a few minutes. To get started, click on the ‘Create MyPredictify Page’ under the ‘My Account’ tab after signing up.
Interesting way to engage. The key is integrating into the flow of the online reader…
http://www.read...ex.php?RTA=web2
John
It’s a poll. It’s a poll. It’s a poll. What really interests me is how Predictify has successfully sold itself as a prediction market, when in reality is it merely a polling application. And yet, from a business development standpoint, they are definitely doing something right. The real story here isn’t the app (they’ve been around for over a decade). It’s the sales job.
Do they have a widget to be used in blog for instance?
Let me predict, all this prediction will benefit only predictify.
It’s a good implementation of crowdsourcing (or, wisdom of crowds) whereby the crowd is more capable to come up with an estimate than experts. What’s probably new here is that a few single lucky ones will take away the glory.
So I wonder if it’s better to wait a while into the guessing, er predicting, and see if the crowd has already averaged towards a particular value. That is, if the crowd’s guesses can be viewed by everyone else before the poll closes.
Jorg, that will be an interesting feature and may very well result in the best answer.
About mining the wisdom of crowds, check out that article on how it’s being used for wireless crowds.