STARTUPS: Online crowd-funding service Kickstarter has evolved massively during 2013 - and, some argue, not for the better. Some individuals are using just to get money for trips, others for ideas which are quirky but probably don't deserve any more oxygen. Luckily there is now a way to figure out if it's REALLY worth backing. Read more on The Guardian.
Three researchers from the Swiss university EPFL can work out if a Kickstarter project will succeed – with 76% accuracy.
According to their paper, presented at the Conference on Online Social Networks, Vincent Etter, Matthias Grossglauser and Patrick Thiran beats the current best estimates by 8 percentage points.
An earlier paper by an American team can predict success with 68% percent accuracy.
By combining information on the interest shown on the project on Twitter, the previous projects backed by supporters, and the number of first-time backers – as well as the all-important figure of how quickly money is coming in – the Swiss team achieve a marked boost in accuracy just a few hours into the project.
Read more on The Guardian
NB: Failure image via Shutterstock.