NewsGa.me - Predicting The Future Of The Predictive News Marketplace

1 Comment(s) | Posted Nov 11, 2009 by Pat Morrell

Patrick Morrell

Remember “Early Edition,” a B/B- series on CBS in the mid-90’s?  The main character receives “tomorrow’s” newspaper “today,” using predictive knowledge to avert tragedies and save lives.  While perhaps lacking the same altruistic bent, Nordic start-up company Nosco has taken that early-news concept in a capitalist-inspired emerging media direction with the introduction of NewsGa.me.

An online stock market for news stories, NewsGame is a forum wherein “investors” can buy, sell, and short-sell future headlines based on their likely occurrence.  For example, if an investor thinks that 'Barcelona Wins Champions League Again' will soon be an actual headline, (s)he can purchase (with virtual money) shares in that headline.  Should it come to fruition, the investor earns points to then climb a ranking chart.  Top ranked profiles receive prizes (in this case, $50 iTunes gift cards).

The reason you have likely not heard of NewsGame is because very, very few people have (it’s a Scandanavian start-up, which perhaps won’t garner great attention stateside – at the outset, at least).  Even counting me (I created an account this morning), there are only 38 total users (at 2:11pm EST).  And I only happened upon it because Michael Soerensen, Nosco CMO (where the platform was developed), posted a link to NewsGa.me on the “Future Social Media” LinkedIn group. 

On the surface, I love the concept – it capitalizes on the inherent satisfaction we all feel when a prediction is proven correct (the genius concept behind such institutions as debating and Las Vegas).  And we’ve seen a similar concept take root in online sports stock markets like OneSeason. 

However, a site like NewGame does not really stand a chance of widespread success unless it can somehow (eventually) loop into a more popular network forum.  Collaboration is the name of the game in social media today, and NewsGa.me must eventually be able to sync user profiles and status updates, otherwise it cannot expect usage to compound and increase.

Furthermore, the site features projected news headlines (“Microsoft & EU Agrees On A Settlement”) yet nowhere does it link to actual stories that inspired those headlines.  Just like E*Trade and Scottrade offer background on securities to inform investment, NewGa.me has to provide users with some frame of reference.

Lastly, sites like Reddit and Digg (and for some, PlayTheNewsGame) seem to already fill the desire for user-rated/generated news.  While there may be a novelty appeal in predicting the news, without some basis in reality on the front end, NewsGamers can really only toss around fake money.

However, I was also the guy who didn’t “get” Twitter at first, and thought that Facebook was a useless distraction as a college freshman (I ended being egregiously wrong on those fronts).  NewsGame is barely in its infancy, effectively still in Beta.  It very well could collaborate with larger networking forums, or even a major news outlet.  And its direct competitiveness does set it apart from other sites. 

NewsGame makes headlines, but it will be a while before it really makes headlines.

Filed under: Emerging Media, News