Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton supporters now have an app where they can anonymously discuss the election cycle together.
This new app called “We The People” allows political buffs to track important news and discuss it anonymously with similarly engaged peers.
We The People Newsfeed (Photo: Screen shot)
We The People launched in April and aims to foster a more informed electorate. Founders Jed Breed and Stephen Kemmerling told The Daily Caller News Foundation that one of its features is a newsfeed that aggregates political information —like tweets and breaking news. Stories come from politicians and pundits’ Twitter accounts as well as from top news sites.
We The People Newsfeed (Photo: Screen shot)
A second feature is an anonymous discussion board where “people are freed from personal consequences so you can say whatever you want and create open and interesting discourse,” according to Breed and Kemmerling.
We The People Discussion Board (Photo: Screen shot)
A Trump supporter in Massachusetts, the founders explained, might be part of a silent majority and wants to avoid being judged too harshly. But with We The People, citizens can engage honestly with their communities.
Breed and Kemmerling said the target demographic is the politically inclined and user ideology reaches across the spectrum. Typical users are interested in learning and consuming information, which means they read more news content than they post in the discussion boards.
The founders pointed out that moderation of the discussion board has not really been needed. They told TheDCNF they nonetheless have “a self-reporting mechanism where one user can report another, and we look at it to see if it’s completely off topic and inflammatory.” The creators said they will then “step in to moderate.”
Currently, We The People’s newsfeed largely centers around the current presidential election, but the long-term goal is to broaden it to the local level. Breed and Kemmerling stated that in between national elections, a given user will see more localized news such as “pending legislation, or a referendum.” They cited the hot button issue of marijuana legalization as an example.
A third feature of We The People is a “heat map” that acts as a “real time poll.” Breed and Kemmerling elaborated that the map “[allows you] to see who and what the people in your community are supporting.” A user can also go beyond the community and “zoom out and track as the election progresses to see how people change on the issues.”
We The People Heat Map (Photo: Screen shot)
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