MobileActive releases the newest addition to our growing resource hub: Mobile Phones for Polling and Engagement.
Polling via SMS can be a unique way to engage current supporters and attract new audiences. Polls can ask any number of questions, from opinions about an organization to views on a controversial issue. However, perhaps the most valuable aspect of polling isn’t the feedback that organizations receive directly from a poll, but rather the relationships with constituents and growing mobile support base that polls can help build.
Organizations engage in mobile polling for two reasons:
- to generate a list of mobile numbers to use for future communications and engagement
- to get an informal sense of constituent views for use on an organization's web site, for generating media coverage, and learn more about a particular segment of its constituency.
Mobile Phones for Polling and Engagement includes a case study of polls conducted by Media Focus on Africa (MFAF) as part of their Election Assistance Campaign, which sought to promote civic participation and discussion of political issues prior to the December 2007 Kenyan elections. Through SMS polling, MFAF asked its constituents some tough questions.
Should politicians accused of corruption be prevented from vying for political seats? Is tribal identity more dominant than the identity of being a Kenyan? Can voting still deliver credible results after the chaotic party nominations and bribery?
The questions were advertised on television, radio shows, and newspaper advertisements. Thousands of Kenyans responded to the polls via SMS on their mobile phones, helping to bring issues of voting and civic participation into the national conversation.
