Contest click-athon 2.0: Tapatap

A little while ago I wrote up Nintendo's "Everybody Votes" channel, a small Wii application that lets users pit themselves against the masses in a multiple-choice voting system. One of the things it did so brilliantly was let you see how your answers stacked up against others after the polls had closed. Along similar lines comes Tapatap, a new contest service that lets you go up against others in contests that use an "A-or-B"-style voting system.

Each contest has a theme, and the most popular ones are listed on the contests page. The site also hosts sponsored and monthly specialty contests that offer prizes to the most active and skilled users. Users pick the photo that corresponds to the contest theme at its best. For example, one of the contests that's on there right now is an either-or matchup between cartoons from the 1980s. Your votes are compared to that of other users, and if you've voted with the majority, you get points. Users can get even more points by going on streaks, which increases their points multiplier. The system also keeps track of which users get the longest streaks on any given contest.

Any user can create their own contest; they're also able to add photos to any existing ones. Users can keep track of votes on their submitted photos and see what contests they're entered in.

In addition to the Web version of Tapatap, there's also a mobile version that lets users vote and browse contests from their phones.

Tapatap is a lot like Bix, but Tapatap doesn't have support for videos, although it's a feature they're adding in the fall. Tapatap is also planning to roll out an embeddable version of their contests in the form of a Flash widget for use on social-networking profiles, including a version for Facebook. I can't say I find sites like this particularly useful, but they're certainly fun.

The age old question of which lolcats meme is better can finally be answered with this user-generated contest service.

(Credit: CNET Networks)