We’re less than a month away from the next opportunity for Americans to vote, and while this year’s may not be as important as the one in 2016, there’s still quite a bit to be decided. When you’re trying to vote, just how are you going to keep track of what issues are up for debate? Brigade wants to help with the launch of its interactive ballot guide.
Available for iOS and Android devices, Brigade’s app tells you what’s on the November 3 ballot, provides personalized voting recommendations, and more. The plan is that by filling out the ballot within the app, Brigade will then match you with local organizations that make endorsements of both candidates and issues. It’s believed that by doing so, they’ll better understand the will of the people and perhaps follow suit.
Like most other socially-infused apps, you can share your completed ballot with your friends across social media, SMS, and email. Brigade hopes that by doing so, it’ll create discussion and also motivate others to participate in this civic responsibility.
The ballot guide is being piloted right now in San Francisco, Calif. (Brigade’s hometown) and perhaps one of the most “politically significant cities”, Manchester, New Hampshire. In order to make this happen, the company has partnered with several local partners in order to curate content and engage the public.
“Technology has made many aspects of our lives easier and more fulfilling, yet political engagement is more difficult and less satisfying than ever before. It doesn’t have to be that way,” says Brigade chief executive Matt Mahan in a blog post. “Together, we can begin to restore citizens’ rightful place at the center of our democracy and there’s no better place to start than in our local communities.”
What Bridge is doing isn’t new, but it’s a much different way to tap into the evolving behavioral patterns of millennials throughout the United States. Many cities, like San Francisco, and states do provide guides well in-advance of elections in order to educate voters about what’s on the ballot, but for people on the go it can be difficult to do so — we can’t just sit there and read through this massive booklet and understand the language used in each proposition, candidate statement, and bond measure that needs our vote.
Brigade’s interactive ballot guide seems to serve two purposes: motivate you to cast your vote by reaching you on a device you’re using while also seeing how your like-minded friends are deciding; and also to give local organizations access to a source of data telling them what their constituents want them to vote in terms of endorsements.
Started by Napster cofounder and the first president of Facebook Sean Parker, Brigade is a social network that’s all about civic engagement. It’s leveraging the power of grassroot efforts to show people that the power is in the hands of the voters, not corporations or lobbyists. Think of it as akin to Change.org, Votizen, Rally, or something similar.
This “local experiment” doesn’t have any current plans to expand to other cities, but the company says that the results will help craft its strategy ahead of the 2016 election — it’s first big test since it launched earlier this year.
Sean Parker’s startup built interactive ballot guides to help you vote smarter
from VentureBeat » Social Media Companies | Social Network News | VentureBeat http://ift.tt/1N8RJSr
via
No comments:
Post a Comment