Original post by Janko Roettgers via GIGaom
Many video curation startups do away with the old-fashioned programming guide to help users find TV shows and online clips. Turkey-based Woisio, which launches its private beta Monday, takes a little bit of a different approach: it keeps the guide – but gets rid of the schedulers.
Woisio wants, instead, to use game mechanics and collaborative filtering to compile a new set of channels, and, in turn, get rid of the traditional middlemen. “Media shouldn’t be mediated,” said the company’s founder Mujdat Ayoguz when he stopped by our office a few weeks ago.
Here’s how Woisio works: The platform offers viewers a number of different channels, called “stages”, including comedy, style , music, politics and so on. Each of these channels is programmed to show clips at a certain time, but users can skip forward or go back and catch up on past programming. There are also local stages, so you can specifically watch clips in the New York politics or Los Angeles music channel. Videos can be up- and downvoted, much like stories on Reddit.
However, unlike on Reddit, votes don’t automatically equal exposure. Instead, they translate to a virtual currency, which the publisher of a video can then use to bid on future air time for other clips. The basic idea behind this: Publishers get rewarded for popular content, and programming becomes a bit of a marketplace. Think virtual stock exchange, but for content curation.
