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MegaBuzz - A New Model For Rewarding Participation
By Rob | March 21, 2007
Just when you think someone has launched every type of social site possible, along comes MegaBuzz. The best way to think of Megabuzz is as an “opinion and prediction networking site.” Think of it as MySpace + Prediction Markets + Rewards. The site is busy and has a lot going on, but it’s appropriate given the business model. Here’s what one MegaBuzz executive told me about the site:
So many Web 2.0 applications allow, or even rely, on user-generated content, but few, if any, are incenting or rewarding their community for participating. He also found that some of the prediction markets were tapping into people’s interest in being right and taking sides (and trivia nights do this as well), but don’t allow the community to create the questions and, therefore, aren’t really allowing the true “buzz” to bubble up. On MegaBuzz, there are topics of interest to everyone:
- Who will be voted out next on American Idol?
- Will Al Gore run for president in 2008?
- What will we do about the weapon-making chimps?
And what do you get for participating? You are guaranteed $20 if you author a question that gets over 500 responses, and there is of course the bonus that now you can waste away countless hours on random trivia which, let’s be honest, is actually pretty fun.
MegaBuzz was founded by Ashish Pandey and Joe Wild, former Expedia executives. It’s built on .NET, and is funded by a couple of Seattle angels. So sign up for an account, and see how other people will respond to those random questions that have been nagging you so much.
Outside the Valley Score
Location: Seattle = 1
Founders: First Time Entrepreneurs = 2
Technology: Existing technologies = 2
Funding: Local Angels = 2
Total = 7 - Not much help from the Valley on this startup.
March 21st, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Amazing. A web application that could single handedly destroy billions of dollars of productivity for companies around the world. I say in 6 months, corporate firewalls block the hell out of this.