HubDub – Predict the News
This is an innovative idea for a website which is both entertaining and could be used by news networks for their research. HubDub encourages users to predict outcomes of real news stories, and to make it more fun this is done by betting virtual dollars. At the moment you can vote on such subjects as whether or not Obama will win the 2012 elections, how far Andy Murray will go in the Australia Open, whether the damaged Picasso painting will be repaired by April 27, and will there be an early spring or a longer winter?
You can choose the news category most of interest to you – and while sports, politics and finance are obvious leaders in having the most predictions, there are also items in science, entertainment, world, technology and general. These can also be sorted into those closing soon, the most active and those with the most predictions. You’ll also find which have recently been settled and which have new comments. With forums for discussion it’s a lively site, and the aggregation of predictions actually leads to a helpful indicator of how some news stories are likely to end. They also provide news networks with helpful data on public opinion, so sponsorship of the site is likely.
NewsTwit – Realtime News Flashes on Twitter
NewsTwit aggregates and filters news flashes from all over Twitter to present them in an organised way so you can keep up-to-date with the news as it happens. It’s a US site, although some sections such as technology have a more international appeal, but it’s clear to see how this idea could do well in various countries. An international version would also be interesting.
Each news flash appears as a tweet with a link to the full story, and the tweets are organised by menu choice. These are National News (US), Sports, Tech, Science, Iran and Other, and the two main categories next to National News on the menu are The Left and The Right. I took a look at the stories in these final two sections and was quite intrigued as to the reasons they were grouped. I can’t quite imagine UK news being grouped that way.
National curiosity aside, I found it very hard to resist clicking on the links to go to the news stories, and I think this is a very productive use of Twitter. Social networks like Twitter allow breaking news to appear immediately. The ability to aggregate that and filter out and arrange the best stories so quickly makes Twitter a great way to read the news. How website organisers decide to filter and arrange those stories will be of interest to readers and traditional publishers.
Newsy.com – Video News from Multiple Sources
Newsy.com is an impressive approach to online news broadcasting, presenting professional video reporting based on a variety of major sources for each story. A team at Newsy.com researches the stories every day using footage from broadcasters including the BBC , Al Jazeera and CNN, and publications including national newspapers. The researchers synthesize news from various perspectives and from different countries so that the viewer is able to see the story from various sides and form an independent opinion.
The presenters are professional, dynamic, and make the news interesting to watch. Rotating research teams monitor blogs, newspapers, magazines and the internet, and the stories are then edited to a high standard for broadcast. Viewers are invited to post comments to have their opinions heard about each news story, and links are provided to the sources used. This is an excellent news service, so it’s no surprise to see level of experience in the management team, headed up by president and founder Jim Spencer who was VP of Content and Answers at Ask Jeeves, and has also helped lead other startup and established online companies. Newsy.com provides an enjoyable and time-saving way to get a multiperspective and multinational view of the news without having to spend hours scanning the media.
Tribal Football – All about the game
Football is loved by billions and played by millions of people around the world. I think every 1 in 3 must be a fan of some team. There are plenty of resources on the net where one can get information about the game. Tribalfootball is also one of them.
Tribalfootball delivers news from almost all the major leagues around the world. Players and managers profiles, score sheets of the latest games and club information is available. It has a fan community which can share stories, ideas and opinions via forums. This can be the deciding feature which will attract people to this site. We do love our visitors ;).
Socially!