Crowdsourced predictions are the driving force behind Forecast, and the app enables members of its community to pose questions about the future, make predictions and discuss the topic.
Product lead Rebecca Kossnick said in a blog post that making predictions and participating in discussions will only be available via the app to invited community members in the U.S. and Canada, but all of the predictions and discussions can be viewed on the Forecast website and shared across platforms.
People interested in participating in the beta can apply here.
Facebook NPE Team
For its rollout Tuesday, the Facebook NPE Team invited people in the health, research and academic communities to make predictions about the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the world.
Kossnick said all questions are submitted by the Forecast community and moderated for clarity using Facebook’s moderation guidelines and community standards.
Users can discuss the reasoning behind their predictions, visit profiles to see other users’ predictions and opinions and follow each other.
They can also view their own prediction track record over time and see where they stand on leaderboards for individual topics.
Kossnick wrote, “People are increasingly searching for information to help them understand what the world might look like tomorrow, next month and beyond. We believe that a community built around predictions is not only a good way to surface crowdsourced wisdom, but may also help to encourage healthier online conversations across a broad range of topics.”
The Facebook NPE Team—NPE stands for New Product Experimentation—released three apps in May: Invite-only iOS app Collab, which brings fans and creators together to create, watch and mix and match original videos, starting with music; Venue, for Android and iOS, which enables commentators and fans to experience live events together in a new, interactive way; and CatchUp, an Android and iOS app aimed at facilitating phone calls and group calls.