Hunch: a fun web-based decision engine

I have just tried Hunch, the fun website that helps you decide. Open to the public only since a couple of days I can see this "decision engine" (sorry Microsoft, Bing is a search engine, not a decision engine) becoming a successful novelty for some time at least.

What is Hunch about?

The principle is very simple: when you first get to the site hunch asks you 20 questions. it uses your answers to build a profile on your likes, dislikes and personality. Once that profile is created you can start to use the Hunch decision engine to answer questions. The questions range from "which Blu-ray player should I buy" to "how many pages should be in my resume". To help you answer the question the site will ask you various simpler questions e.g. to know the size your resume should be the decision engine will ask you several multiple choice questions on your career. The original question is then answered by Hunch and you are given the percentage of users that reached the same answer.

Yes, but what IS the Hunch?

Well, if you do not want to answer the question you can also press the Hunch button. This will make the decision engine take the decision for you based on the profile it build from your previous answers and the answers of the users whose profile match yours. Note that you can also opt to skip one question it you have trouble answering.

I expect Hunch to be successful not only because it can provide a good service but also for the entertainment aspect of the site. This reminds me of the multiple questions "test" that you find in almost all magazines and of the votes channel on the Wii, and no one can deny that these are entertaining and successful. My only worries are about the potential privacy implications: the site claims that the data is confidential, but this would be a gold mine for marketers, so I hope their security is up to scratch.

Well, don't stay there, go try Hunch and leave me a comment with your opinion!