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New Campaigning Platform Gives People a Voice

A new online campaign site is aiming to revolutionise the way we capture public sentiment. NowVoiceIt allows users to record a three second message to give their view on something and explain it, adding clout and effectiveness to campaigns, petitions and surveys.

NowVoiceIt is a collaborative venture dreamt up by three London online startups. Its initial campaign has grown from a change.org petition that encourages UK residents to volunteer to house refugees from the Syrian crisis. It quickly became clear that, while most people felt sympathy for their plight, opinion was widely divided on whether people would be willing to have a refugee to stay.

““Petitions have been increasingly successful in putting pressure on governments to action change, but what if you added a face and voice to your signature?” said Matt Scott of City House Media, the Washington-born entrepreneur who has co-founded the site along with news decoding site Scenes of Reason. “NowVoiceIt is all about using a webcam and mic, something you’ll find on every modern computer and handheld device, to make your opinion heard. We can visualise how the majority of the public feel, rather than relying on the media”

Starting with the question ‘If you had the means, would you house a refugee?’, NowVoiceIt is already attracting users keen to make their views heard and it’s envisaged that this will be the first of many topics to appear on the site. Moving forward, it may also be possible to integrate the platform with other petition and campaign sites, thereby introducing a new, much more personal element.

“Everyone in Britain has an opinion, but all too often these are drowned out by the views of the media or politicians,” said Olivia Cappuccini, Founder of Scenes of Reason. “The idea behind NowVoiceIt is to hear the opinions of the average person in the street. Think about how much information we’ll be able to gather about who feels what and whether there are social trends dependent on age, location and/or gender.

“The refugee question seemed a good one to start on as it’s so topical. We’re not asking people to pledge to open their home as we know many people simply don’t have the means. There is no right or wrong answer to the question. Many people have sympathy with these refugees, but we’re curious to see how far the British will go to support those fleeing the war in Syria.”

Anyone can record their video submission on their phone, tablet or computer webcam. They simply need to hold up a location card of where they are in the world, state their Yes or No answer and if they wish, add a short reason. Each three second video will be included in a rolling video on the NowVoiceIt site, alongside a bar showing the balance of opinion among the contributors.

The three startups behind the campaign are news company Scenes of Reason, iPhone video messaging app Swaat, and City House Media, a creative agency.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah Shannon .