Silly name, but predictably intriguing, Predictify has made its way onto several major newspapers’ and blogs’ radar, and now onto their webpages. Washingtonpost.com is the latest to partner with the crowd-sourcing prediction platform, joining up with the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and ReadWriteWeb, among others.
On its website, Predictify allows users to make predictions about the outcomes of current events. At issue right now, for example, is whether Brooke Hogan will pose for Playboy, which spot “The Dark Knight” takes among IMDB’s best all-time movies list (15th seems to be winning), and who Barack Obama and John McCain will pick as running mates.
If you’re really good at predicting, you could make some money. Predictify offers Premium Questions, posed by sponsors, and the especially prescient can earn a little of the pot just by being right all the time.
At issue on the Washington Post, predictably, are various questions related to the Presidential candidates—not just VP choice, but also timing of the announcement.
Jim Brady, Executive Editor of washingtonpost.com, says the site’s new Prediction Center provides Post readers “with a dynamic forum to interact with news.”
In rocky times for the newspaper industry, major news sources are turning more and more to developing their online presences to attract readers and offset losses in their print divisions. Though late to the game, national papers especially have widely adopted blogs as part of their formats. Increased interactivity appears to be a new part of the overall strategy.
