When Google purchased the social gaming company Slide last year, it was unclear what would happen to the newly acquired company. Far from being swallowed into the gullet of Google, Slide has gone on to launch new products like the group messaging app Disco. Slide’s latest creation is a service called Prizes.org, which aims to crowdsource away any problem you care to throw at it. It’s a simple system: Those with questions or problems post a description and a time frame, along with a monetary prize for the best results. Users who think they have a good solution can post their answers, while other users vote on what they think is the best answer. The user with the most votes at the end of the contest takes the prize.
Prizes.org is only the most recent site to rely on its users and a competitive system for core functionality. Art sites like Threadless and Patch Together have drawn from a strong user base for their content and have relied on a contest-like system for selecting final products. Of course it is a little more complex in the case of Prizes.org, which hopes to bring quality advice to the surface. One hopes that they can develop a strong enough community to vet out users posting advice just for the “lulz.”
While it is very much a new service, there is great potential in a service designed to tap the creativity of millions. But it will likely face an uphill battle against trolls and other Internet ne’er-do-wells, not to mention scammers looking to make some easy money. If Prizes.org can keep on top of all this, it could have a bright future.
(via Mashable)
