Stock Market for Geek Culture 26
indiejade writes "Yahoo! recently launched its take on the virtual fantasy-prediction game market. The Tech Buzz Game allows players to invest in what they think will be the "next big thing" RE high-tech products, trends, or concepts. CNet reported that the game was announced at the now-in-progress Emerging Technologies Conference in San Diego. The players with the three highest scores accumulated in the game between now and July 29th will win one of various Apple products."
Easy to cheat? (Score:4, Interesting)
* You're bullish on podcasting; you buy shares of PODCAST stock * Britney announces her next single will be delivered exclusively via podcast * Curious tweens everywhere flood Yahoo! with searches about podcasting * Your shares skyrocket; you make a bundle
Couldn't you fix the results by asking friends to search for something? Either that, or post a link on Slashdot :)
Re:Easy to cheat? (Score:2)
Re:Easy to cheat? (Score:1)
YES, oh yes! (Score:3, Funny)
Advertisement? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Advertisement? (Score:1)
95% of worlds population need not apply (Score:3, Informative)
Re:95% of worlds population need not apply (Score:1)
Re:95% of worlds population need not apply (Score:2, Funny)
Re:95% of worlds population need not apply (Score:2)
95.33 percent of worlds population need not apply.
Re:95% of worlds population need not apply (Score:1)
Re:95% of worlds population need not apply (Score:2)
In the UK (Score:1)
The BBC have done something similar for a while now (it's based on UK media coverage), there is a celebrity market [bbc.co.uk] & a sports market. [bbc.co.uk]
Neither are tech related but it's all a bit of fun. Although I'm afraid there's no serious prizes attached to these markets either
Been there, done that. Better... (Score:4, Interesting)
Wait a second... (Score:3, Funny)
1. Invest in some obscure Foobar Technology.
2. while (true) {socket.open("www.yahoo.com"); socket << "GET
3. ??? (somehow get a lot of computers to run this; your personal bandwidth probably isn't enough to make a dent)
4. Profit!
A catch (Score:4, Interesting)
Then, registration for the contest asks for extra personal information information. Address, phone number, etc.
From the official rules:
By entering the Game, you agree to Yahoo!'s use of your personal information as described in Yahoo!'s Privacy Policy
From the privacy policy:
We provide the information to trusted partners who work on behalf of or with Yahoo! under confidentiality agreements. These companies may use your personal information to help Yahoo! communicate with you about offers from Yahoo! and our marketing partners.
I expect that by playing the game you tell them exactly what types of products you think about, moreso than they could deduce from search strings.
Re:A catch (Score:2)
Confusing (Score:2)
No short selling! (Score:2)
Real World measurements and extraneous criteria. (Score:4, Interesting)
A) A Disconnect between the whole "Buzz market" and that represented by Yahoo search. For example, those who use Yahoo search are more likely to use Yahoo services, and so Yahoo services will have a disproportionately higher "Buzz Rating". If you doubt me, check out a few of those markets and you'll find Yahoo with 58-70% "buzz rating" and yet considerably lower capitalization.
B) The criteria used for buzz are not only public, but also linked on the page. For example, I bought 1000 shares of EMUSIC. Clicking on the "Buzz Words" section tells me that the "EMUSIC" buzz value can be raised by clicking on one of 5 links: emusic [yahoo.com]");
emusic download [yahoo.com]");
free emusic [yahoo.com]");
emusic tag [yahoo.com]");
emusic live [yahoo.com]");
(I am not signed up for any sort of prize, nor does my sig line offer you a free mac mini in exchange for e-sodomization; nor do I even know what emusic is; but feel free to check these links out for integrity)
C) Thus, if you're going to measure anything, rewarding unrelated behaviour will ruin the measurement. Then again, I suppose it's a good way to bombard people with ads and increase site traffic.
Still, who knows? Maybe this game will predict the next Junk Bond king.
Re:Real World measurements and extraneous criteria (Score:4, Interesting)
If you look through the fine print [yahoo.com], you'll see that Fridays, between 6PM and 9PM, they "Adjust" the market prices to proportions of the "Buzz Value". Now, if you investigate say, Ad services [yahoo.com], you'll find that Google Adsense leads at $17/share, followed by Yahoo Overture at $7.50. Yet Google Adsense has 20-odd keywords to Overture's 48, and Overture has 58% of the buzz to google's 25%.
So, come tomorrow, people are going to be shocked when their Adsense stock plummets to 1/3 its current valuation, and Overture doubles.
A few weeks of this, and maybe Yahoo brand awareness will be higher up in the minds of Alpha Geeks around the world.
So I guess I'll reconsider C). Contrary to what they claim, this isn't a measurement; it's a direct attempt to influence market awareness for Yahoo products among IT professionals.
Market manipulation (Score:1)
Only %2 of players are showing positive return (Score:2)
So why are only 2% of the players profitting in a set of zero-sum games? What investment strategy are they pursuing that is so poor?
mahlen
Re:Only %2 of players are showing positive return (Score:1)