People Power (yougov.com)

Member Name: Slim Lee

Product:	yougov.com
Date:	17/02/01 (228 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very informative site and you get paid to vote

Disadvantages: A bit dull if you're not into politics

I’ve been using this site for a couple of months now so hopefully I can give you a detailed and balanced view.

So what is the site about then? It’s actually quite a simple concept, in that by completing special “tracking polls” or questionnaires, you get paid for your views. This aspect of the site will obviously be the interesting “hook” to most of the people who join but the other features are useful too.

Aim of the site
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“to promote open government by making service-providers more accountable, developing the mechanism of best value and creating a new partnership between government and its stakeholders, the citizens.”

It is simply a link between us the public and our elected officials. In this early phase the main contact is through the surveys. The payment to members can be generated as marketing consultants no longer need to send hundreds of people out onto the street with clipboards. They can just ask the members of YouGov.com instead.

The site itself is laid out nicely enough, with a scrolling “ticker tape” style list at the top showing the most recent stories and polls. A short list on the left hand side of the screen provides your login, account details, background and contact information. It’s still in its infancy so this part is a little basic.

One of the good things about this site is the distinct lack of banner advertising. The only one is at the top of the page and it is a link to join their own polling club. The privacy policy also states they will not contact you other than to supply information about up and coming votes, results and to reply when you contact them. They pledge not to supply any of your personnel details to any third parties. So far in the two months I have been a member I have only received two emails from them (monthly updates). Not one bit of spam to be seen!

Features
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Currently the site is in “Phase 1” of its development, offering the following:-

Paid-for-polls:
YouGov Polling club registered members receive fifty pence for each poll they vote on. There is a weekly poll covering general politics and other special ones that pop up from time to time. The format of the poll is a news style piece followed by a series of questions that you tick the relevant boxes on. The average poll takes under five minutes to complete.

Trans-Active News:
A comprehensive section, with a selection of the worlds’ top news stories, updated daily. This is the best site I have found online for up-to-date and informative new stories covering current affairs and politics. They also provide a briefing of the main stories being covered by the newspapers and any interesting snippets from the editorials.

Political Colours:
A quick test, purporting to tell you whereabouts you lie in terms of your political persuasions (i.e. the political party with the closest views to your own). Interesting to have a go with the first time you visit the site but redundant after that.

Mr Dale’s Diary:
A regular(ish) “diary” piece by Iain Dale, co-owner of Politico's Bookstore. His entries revolve mainly around events in pariliament. It can be quite funny sometimes but is a bit hit and miss on the whole.

John Humphrys:
He has his own section, rather like a newspaper column. IT covers the latest “burning” subject and is updated on a weekly basis every Friday (normally around midday). As usual there is a section to vote on your opinion on the subject after his article. This is one of the sections I always read each week and I find it very informative. Recent subjects have included “Europe: Do we know? Do we care?” and “Lockerbie: Is there a cover-up?” This section is essential for anyone who enjoys the Speakers Corner here on dooyoo.
r>Fay Weldon:
Her articles often take the format of an ‘open letter’ to someone in authority or an organisation. Sometimes interesting but can be very dry. I’ll read this section if I’m particularly interested in the subject matter as I can’t seem to get on with her writing style.

Des Wilson:
His articles are a good and to the point. Unfortunately he only seems to post new ones every ten days or so, depending on what is going on in the political scene. I’d expect a flourish of activity soon with the general election approaching.

The Left Right Debate:
A nice idea this one. Two of the contributors write on the same subject with opposing viewpoints. You can get extreme viewpoints in here but then you do get a good cross-section of the arguments on the subject. I can almost imagine them throwing stuff at each other sometimes!

Peter Kellner:
Weekly articles mainly on politics and economic issues (normally posted on the site on Wednesdays recently). He is a very astute commentator and gives a well balanced viewpoint on the subject. One section I always read without fail.

People’s Parliament:
Quite similar in format to the Left Right Debate section but without having two writers. It is normally a list of the “fors” and “againsts” on a subject (with reasoning) that the members can vote upon.

YouGov Shop:
A link to their bookshop, containing mostly political books. I’m not really that interested in politics but I’m sure some people will find this a useful reference point.

GovDoctor:
This bit is really useful. It looks up who your local MP is by your postcode (from your registration) and supplies the name, telephone number and email address so you can get in contact with them. You can type in any postcode you like to get the relevant information.

That’s pretty much what the site has to offer at present
but they are planning to expand it in the near future. Phase 2 promises the following extras:

- GovPayments
They are hoping to get local councils involved in the site. Then you may be able to pay your council tax, rates and parking fines (eek!) through the site. Not a big bonus but would be a welcome addition.

- Polling Club
They will start to pay out for your opinions in the commercial polls. They hope to create the UK’s largest ever “Citizen’s Panel” and then send out more regular polls on a wider variety of political and commercial subjects. Any polls voted on now still count as fifty pence each and will be paid out at this stage. They are also looking at doing some sort of monitoring on local council performance but I’m not too sure on how they intend to make this work.

- GovDoctor expansion
The addition of further contacts and information with local and national government, including some form of rating to create a league table of good/bad councils.

Phase 3 is their final stage and is expected to widen the net to include the European aspect of government. They are also looking at some links to available jobs within government and school information. They claim to be trying to create an e-democracy, hence the use of the phrases like “Peoples Parliament” all over the place.


Contributors
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Mostly journalists and media types that are involved with content and debates on the site but they do come with a strong reputation.


- John Humphrys, the presenter of the BBC’s political programme “On the record”, BBC Radio 4's 'Today Programme' and a Sunday Times columnist. He is obviously the big name they have contributing at the moment;

- Peter Kellner, journalist with the Evening Standard and polling expert (BBC);

- Boris Johnson, editor of The Spectator (and complete a*** in my honest o
pinion). Remember him when he went on “Have I got news for you”? I do and it makes me laugh (at him) even now;

- Ian Hargreaves, ex-editor of the New Statesman and The Independent. He also holds the position of Professor of Journalism at the University of Cardiff;

- Janet Daley (afraid she is unknown to me!);

- Des Wilson, commentator and political and public affairs consultant. Remember him? He used to be president of the Liberal Party a while back, a founder-director of Shelter and Chairman of Friends of the Earth;

- Fay Weldon, best selling author, will provide commentary and polling questions.


They seem to have assembled an impressive, and fairly well balanced team so far. This helps to create a good mixture to raise debates. Even the inclusion of someone as dim witted and opinionated as Boris Johnson is okay as he brings the far-right side of the political spectrum to the forum.

They also claim to have a team of a dozen or so journalists and editors monitoring news items worldwide to include on the site. Looking at the content on the site so far I wouldn’t doubt this fact.


Verdict
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When I say I have been using it, I actually do mean taking part in the questionnaires and discussions and not just clicking on the surveys to get the payments. I visit the site most days to check on the latest news items and to read any new articles that have been written. If there is a poll attached to it then I often vote too. I feel that it is important to voice your opinions on all of the areas covered, whether you got paid as part of the polling club or not.

The articles are interesting and thought provoking, and sometimes quite amusing too. The diversity of opinion on the site is very wide so I can’t see how anyone could worry about freedom of speech on here. It works well because of this and helps to spark off heated debates.

It is still very m
uch in its infancy but I would recommend that anyone who is interested in politics to check it out. The fact that you will get paid for completing surveys is a great bonus as this is a very informative site to start with. Although they haven’t paid any money out at this stage I am confident that this is should not be a problem. Check out the affiliated companies who will be using the polls as market research tools. The fifty pence per vote is not going to cost them a lot in comparison to the money they spend on more conventional methods currently.

If developed correctly, this site could turn out to be one of the most useful on the web. Who knows where democracy may move in the electronic age?


<As the site develops I will keep updating this opinion, particularly with regard to the payments>