Reuters gives up on news

ANCIENT NEWS OUTFIT Reuters has given up on working out news based on facts and will ask the virtual prediction site, Hubdub what will happen instead.

Hubdub, which launched in February 2008, has created a special section of the site, dedicated solely to Reuters.

It means that Reuters will be able to question Hubdub's existing 150,000 users on what they think will be the outcome to current affairs questions.

Of course they could just ask the cat, but the fact humans are involved gives such predictions 'credibility'.

Website tools will allow Reuters to build a community of Hubdub 'friends' and link to the agency's own market widgets and stories.

Hubdub said that the arrangement will help it build up its user base, and as that gets bigger they'll see Reuters' questions. Meanwhile the answers Reuters gathers will send traffic back to those news sites.

Apparently the combined fortune-telling powers of Hubdub members is far greater than all of the hacks in all of the world. Hubdub users were making predictions about the HBOS takeover a long time before mainstream news sites. µ

L’Inq
Journalism.co.uk