It is very hard to classify Pressyo, really. When we started Pressyo, we had a few things in mind. We wanted Pressyo to be this, we wanted Pressyo to be that – very much like parents having aspirations for their children.
That is not to say we started Pressyo without any clear objectives. We do in fact, have a clear objective for Pressyo; and among the objectives of starting Pressyo was to present good information to anyone using Pressyo (there were other more lofty objectives for Pressyo, like being the world’s economic saviour – even though Pressyo was founded a year ago – and silly ideas like Pressyo being the precursor to The Matrix but I shall deign to speak of those).
We wanted Pressyo to be a game, a Digg-clone, a stock-market for information a social experiment. Ultimately though, all those ideas got trashed, and we came up with what Pressyo is today.
Pressyo as a game
To some, Pressyo is a game, with virtual currency and virtual objectives (like: To get rich!). This is an acceptable understanding for what Pressyo is. Two of us – Darrell and myself, come from a programming world where we wrote games. Our passion is game design, and we do not deny that Pressyo has game-like elements in it. It would be a challenging game indeed, for someone interested to try to subvert the system.
Pressyo as Yet Another Digg Clone
To others, Pressyo is merely an overcomplex Digg/Reddit clone. This is also an acceptable understanding of what Pressyo is. Digg and Reddit are the pinnacle of socially powered collaborative filtering sites. And no doubt, they are awesome. It is also doubtless that we took a few leaves from Digg and Reddit in making Pressyo. However we like to think that there is more to Pressyo than either sites. For one, we are more algorithmically-oriented, and as such makes us quite different from either social sites (an unofficial mantra here is “Cylons are going to rule you meatbags”).
Pressyo as a stock market-like thingo for information
Then there are those who are financially savvy (and I hope didn’t get burnt by the latest stock market crashes), and realize that Pressyo is like a stock market for ‘cool’ and ‘interesting’ stuff. That is also true. In a sense – like Darth Vader killing Luke’s father. Pressyo is more like the rice markets in Japan in the 1500s than a modern stock market. Sure, part of our algorithm involves double auctions, but that is about as close to a modern stock market as we get.
Pressyo as a social experiment
Seasoned academics and researchers would also come to realize that Pressyo was designed to be rather like a social experiment. One immediately thinks of the ‘games’ that economics and sociology professors play in class. It is not wrong to think of it thus either. Pressyo is structured rather like a social experiment, because we structured it thus – and Pressyo will be run like a social experiment. Social experiments give us insights to how the human being works, so our Cylon overlords would have enough knowledge to subdue us. Ah, but jokes aside, the insights derived from social experiments will only bring better services to you.
So, what is Pressyo?
So which of these are Pressyo? The truth is, all these are correct. But because Pressyo is relatively unique, there are no direct comparisons, only intepretations. We like to think of Pressyo as having the best quality of each of the mish-mash above.
Ultimately though, Pressyo is not about us, or what we want it to be. It is totally out of our control. Pressyo is about you. You power Pressyo. Algorithms can only bring us so far. We at Pressyo can only guide Pressyo to our objectives – to bring the user good information.
We can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.