This is not a development update. We’ve put out enough of those lately. Since we’re getting closer to launch (9 days now) and we have a lot of new followers, I thought it would be helpful to talk a little about the past (the backstory) as well as the future (our vision).

If you’re an avid user of social media, you may have noticed that lately everyone seems to be arguing. Pick a side and defend it at any cost. Endless arguments. Twitter lately has been… unpleasant. It’s a horrible environment, particularly if you follow political or media profiles. This has been getting worse and worse for some time now. Social media was created to keep us all connected. To share. We’re stuck with a few major platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a few others. None of them were designed to handle the opinions of millions or even billions of users. Over the years, they have evolved to become less private and more public. That means we are spending a lot of our time now conversing with people we don’t know. This can contribute to some serious division in society, over time.

Everyone has opinions. A person who has a different opinion to you isn’t necessarily wrong. Opinions are largely a product of environment and experience. Two very similar people can grow up in different environments, form a different opinion on a serious issue, and not even be able to comprehend how the other person can think differently. It’s neither of their faults.

So if we all have different opinions, and nobody’s opinion is worth more than anyone else’s, why are we spending so long arguing with strangers on the internet, on platforms that simply aren’t designed to host those conversations?

ClearPoll offers everyone an equal voice. Every vote on every poll is worth exactly the same. There’s no moderation and no censorship. There’s no way to argue, pressure or influence votes. For the first time in history, a platform exists where people from all backgrounds can come together and make their opinion known, and have it count. A Twitter poll is not sufficient. It can be manipulated. Votes can be bought. The user creating a Twitter poll has a following, and most of those followers will have similar opinions on relevant topics. It is simply not a good way to measure accurate public opinion on a large scale.

Not only is ClearPoll the best way to collect honest votes on any topic, but it’s an incredibly powerful tool in regards to providing insights into important issues. Imagine a global poll on a serious issue. Let’s say immigration policies. That poll may receive one million votes. ClearPoll allows anyone to access the statistical data on the completed poll. They could see how females between the ages of 30 and 35 in Germany voted. They could see how males between the ages of 50 and 60 in Australia voted. Not only are you seeing the final poll result, you can drill down and benefit from far more detail. This can lead to a better understanding of possible factors responsible for forming opinions.

Better understanding can lead to real change.

An essential step in the democratic process is to measure accurate public opinion on a large scale. A poll with 100,000 genuine respondents is infinitely more valuable than a poll with 100 hand picked respondents. In the past this has not been possible. ClearPoll makes it not only possible, but enjoyable and rewarding. We fully expect ClearPoll users to vote regularly and use the platform by choice. There is a reason we added “fun stuff” like Star Polls and User Rewards to the platform. Retention. Getting someone to use an app to vote on something serious (maybe even an election) is one thing. They sign up because they have to, they vote, and then they are gone. Getting them to join and return by choice, because it’s a positive experience and they can vote on topics they actually care about, is what we are focusing on.

On October 23 we are hosting an opinion poll on Scotland’s independence. We’ve already seen a tremendous response from thousands of passionate Scots. We don’t take sides. The result does not personally matter to us, but we’re thrilled to be providing the platform to host the poll and very excited to share the results and the amazing data. We fully intend to regularly host polls on important issues. Each time, attracting more users, and we believe they will remain users long after the poll has ended.

The platform we are launching on August 31 is our starting point. It’s not the completion of our project. It is just the beginning. We fully intend to grow, evolve and expand the platform. We did not start this project just to create a cool app. We are prepared to invest in our future.

Our vision is to become the go-to platform for anything public opinion. The absence of moderation or censorship means every user and every vote is fair and equal. The technology ensures nobody can hack or tamper with the data. No corrupt or compromised media outlets, governments or corporations controlling the results. ClearPoll is destined to become a trusted source of polling data. We can integrate into other platforms. We can allow voting from every website. We can offer live voting at events or on TV. You will be able to vote on anything, anywhere, any time and if there’s no poll, you create it and you share it.

It’s time to discover what people really think, and open up the results for all to see.

I hope this article has given you a little more insight into why we are building ClearPoll and where we intend to take it.

ClearPoll App and Desktop launches in 9 days. It’s a very exciting (and busy) time for our team. I am personally very proud of how hard they have all worked. We haven’t taken a backward step despite the brutal market. We intend to come out of this period of time ahead of the pack and with an awesome fully functional blockchain platform.

We can’t wait to see ClearPoll grow and help inspire real positive change.

Daniel Abela

CoFounder

ClearPoll