FollowTheVote is a mobile app that makes political engagement a fun and informative habit for young people by combining facts with gamification.
Elena Schulz-Ruhtenberg, Frank Lehmann, Levy Orlando Röpcke, Madlene Scheiderer, Maren Heinz
To strengthen the relationship between young citizens and politics the mobile application FollowTheVote makes politics simple, factual, and fun. The app focuses on forming a political habit that empowers people to take action. It translates complex issues into an easy language and brings personalized opportunities for participation directly to the users with the look and feel of social media.
The app addresses the following topics:
Links:
License:
Social media:
Interim report from September 2021:
Showcase at the UNLOCK Demo Day in October 2021:
Growing populism, increasing followership of conspiracy theorists and, most recently, the storming of the US Congress are symptoms of a new form of media that is fundamentally changing the way we are confronted with information.
Particularly young people spend considerable time on social media every day, being exposed to unfiltered, unreliable, and often extreme and biased political content. Consequently, this group has insufficient knowledge of political processes, is less politically active and is losing confidence in political institutions.
“Our vision is a world where young citizens are informed, engaged and empowered to participate in politics.”
FollowTheVote sets out to strengthen our democracy by revolutionizing the way people are politically informed and become socially engaged in the 21st century. It seeks to prevent further alienation from and consequent damage to our democratic systems.
Only when people feel that their voice is heard and that they can be an active part of change, can trust in democratic systems be strengthened.
FollowTheVote will combine innovations from UX design, gamification and voting advice applications in a mobile application that informs, engages, and empowers in only a few minutes a day:
INFORM: The app shows its users one political issue a day that was recently voted on in parliament. It is designed as “snackable” information based on high quality sources.
ENGAGE: The users can collect points by interacting with the app, they can share political opinions and progress outside of the platform.
EMPOWER: FollowTheVote helps raise the voice of its users by offering petitions that can be signed with just one click. The anonymous voting results will be sent directly to parliament. Further, if an election is coming up, users can compare their own voting decisions with those of political candidates.
FollowTheVote addresses citizens with the following characteristics:
