Blog Assignment 3

The media/technology I want to report on for this blog assignment is called "longbets.org"  Long bets is a new social media and financial combination website that is "an arena for competitive, accountable predictions".  It also serves as a discussion forum for societal and technological changes that may come in the future.

It all starts with a prediction.  Someone starts by making a prediction about the future (minimum 2 years away).  Example: Prediction 678: Apple will release an electric car within the next decade.  Once someone makes a prediction, someone can challenge it, and turn it into a long bet.  Both participants (the predictor and challenger) pay a minimum of $200 to start their bet.  Whenever the deadline ends, the winner is paid.  The money is paid up front to longbets.org and is invested in endowments managed by Capital Research and Management Company.  The interesting part is that the winners of the bets don't actually win the money.  If they win, they donate their winnings to an IRS approved charity of their choice.

Longbets.org is an intriguing tool for philanthropic giving.  An example of a bet that has been paid out is bet #3.  "A profitable video-on-demand service aimed at consumer will offer 10,000 titles to 5 million subscribers by 2010".  This bet was placed in 2002.  It may not seem like a big deal to us now, but that prediction in 2002 was probably a long shot at the time. Both the predictor and challenger bet $1,000, and went to the Electric Frontier Foundation in 2010.

This is related to our internet communication course because it shows an entertaining, interactive option for philanthropic giving.  There are comments on the website from as old as 12 years ago, which is uncommon to see.  The site has only recently gained popularity, after being featured on CNN.

You can read more from CNN here:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/22/tech/social-media/future-betting-tomorrow-transformed/

I recommend this article because it describes a website that is both intelligent discussion and charity based.  It's unlike any other website I've ever seen.