St. Gallen, August 30 2011 – Online news prediction site “Knew The News” is the first to rely on the collective intelligence of its users to run and further develop the website. By doing so Knew The News goes beyond what similar websites offer. Each player is not only responsible for the questions that he or she creates, but ultimately for the entire website itself. The success of the website is a result of the collective intelligence of the players on the site.
News prediction websites are not a particularly new phenomenon. Some established websites have been running fairly well for the past ten years. News prediction markets offer credible data and are often able to predict the actual outcome of an event.
However, what happens when the players of a prediction website take care of the game itself, and determine its characteristics, its course, and ultimately its rules? Experience has already shown that as soon as the player personally identifies with game, he or she has a vested interest in the game. The approach is very successful, as it is already evident on Knew The News, even though it is still a relatively young website.
“To achieve this kind of allegiance, a game site has to involve its players right from the start. The player must be made aware of the fact that he doesn’t only play the game, but also shapes the game”, states Constantinus van der Kruijs, owner and founder of Knew The News and adds, “crowdsourcing based games, like news prediction sites, work very well with this approach. The player provides individual questions regarding future events covered in mainstream media and their results, which are then subject to predictions made by other players”.
Knew The News actually offers much more. Any member on the site is invited to suggest and discuss aspects of the website, to propose changes. If it emerges that any of the proposals are approved by the user base, they are offered to the rest of the players on the site. The players then take a vote and decide whether they are to be implemented or not.
Additionally, Knew The News uses a scoring system which calculates how well a player is interacting with the site and other members. Based on this ranking, players are invited to become a so called “super user”. Super users are able to undertake management tasks on the site, which are normally done by employees of news prediction sites.
“I am thrilled about this new and creative approach to website management”, enthuses van der Kruijs and adds, “many users are making huge efforts and are very dedicated to the site already. And we’ve only just begun.”
About Knew The News
Knew The News, the news prediction game site. Players trade virtual money on future events to compete with fellow players on several leaderboards representing their individual expertise on topics such as politics, sports, business, entertainment, science and technology. Founded in 2010, the free online game is largely self-organizing: Both the site content, as well as the game mechanisms and rules are part of the community efforts, making Knew The News a unique prediction website.
