Wednesday, April 6, 2011 - By Anonymous - 3 comments
SeeClickFix Announces Launch of Innovative New Facebook Application
App Will Provide Facebook’s 600 Million Users With an Online Tool for Improving Their Offline Communities
With over 50,000 reported issues already resolved through SeeClickFix.com and its mobile phone applications, the most important feature of the new Facebook App will be the offline results generated from users’ online activity. It will tie directly into SeeClickFix’s already-powerful reporting platform, allowing citizens to broadcast their issues directly to the site’s 14,000 registered public officials.
"Facebook has proven to be a powerful platform for encouraging people to plant virtual trees and improve virtual neighborhoods. When considering recent events, like the revolutionary wave in the Middle East, it’s also proven to be a powerful tool for organizing around social and political issues” explained SeeClickFix CEO Ben Berkowitz about the inspiration behind the company’s first Facebook application. “We are excited to see how Facebook users make real-life, offline changes to their communities through our application."
When the App is installed, the user’s location is pulled either directly from his or her current Facebook profile location or entered manually if no location is given. Once the location is set, the user can start reporting issues, creating watch areas, discovering problems reported by neighbors, and, most important, advocating for an issue to be fixed. Users can automatically post reported issues to their walls, allowing friends to comment on the issue or vote for a fix. With these features, SeeClickFix hopes to support both online and offline collaboration among users.
“Developing this App was a challenging, but ultimately rewarding experience,” said Daniel Stainback, Director of Web Development at SeeClickFix. “We are tapping into millions of people with the potential to transform their communities.”
SeeClickFix government and media partners can incorporate the App as a tab on their official Facebook pages, providing citizens with another method of directly communicating their concerns. With content translated into over 10 languages, the SeeClickFix Facebook App will also support international users.
The SeeClickFix Facebook App will also utilize game mechanics to engage users, encourage activity, and foster face-to-face interaction among neighbors.To incentivize user activity, the App will award Civic Points for completing certain tasks ranging from installing the App and reporting an issue to uploading images and getting an issue fixed. The App will eventually rank users against their neighbors based on Civic Points earned and allow them to readily view where they stand.
The SeeClickFix Facebook App can be installed here: http://apps.facebook.com/seeclickfix
About SeeClickFix
SeeClickFix allows citizens anywhere in the world to report and monitor non-emergency community issues ranging from potholes and planted trees to garbage and graffiti. Launched in 2008, it empowers citizens, community groups, media organizations, and governments to work together and improve their neighborhoods. Through mobile web, web, iPhone, Android, and Blackberry apps, the SeeClickFix platform is the most widely-distributed citizen reporting tool in the country. The platform is fun and easy to use for citizens while being inexpensive and easily adaptable for governments. Over 40 percent of issues reported on SeeClickFix are ultimately resolved. For more information or to report an issue, visit www.seeclickfix.com.
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This is a promising new development for an inspiring category of civic engagement / community empowerment applications, and I hope this new Facebook app adds a valuable new dimension of engagement and empowerment for all stakeholders.
However, I also have a question. A couple of years ago, I participated in a panel on Community technology to support geographically-based communities at the International Conference on Communities & Technologies (C&T 2009). At the time, I was not aware of SeeClickFix, but another panelist (from Europe) reported on the FixMyStreet in the UK.
While personally optimistic about the potential of these tools, the scientific skeptic in me wonders about the actual impact. I am intrigued by the note about "40 percent of issues reported on SeeClickFix are ultimately resolved" near the bottom of the post, but I'm wondering if you have any data about what percentage of those resolved cases would likely have been resolved in the absence of SeeClickFix reports, as that number would potentially offer much stronger support for the efficacy of the application. Thanks!
Hi Joe,
Thanks for your message! While it would be wonderful if we knew exactly how many issues reported on SeeClickFix were fixed because they were reported with us, the issues and fixes not reported with us make it hard to determine that exact number.
What's important is that citizens are able to voice their concerns and be heard by their neighbors and local officials. Like you, we are very optimistic about the potential our new application has for improving communities. If you have any feedback or ideas about our platform, or how we can capture this additional data, we'd love to hear it. You can reach us through contact (at) gmail . com.
Emma
Hi Joe,
I apologize, I mistakenly gave you the incorrect email address! Our email is contact (at) seeclickfix . com.
So sorry about that! We look forward to hearing your feedback.
Emma