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In 2011-2012, I built my first iPhone app, called SuperVote [1], a social ballot app that showed your Facebook friends' endorsements for upcoming elections. I w

In 2011-2012, I built my first iPhone app, called SuperVote [1], a social ballot app that showed your Facebook friends' endorsements for upcoming elections. I was motivated to build the app for state ballot measures more so than political office elections, because in California you could have 10+ ballot measures to vote on, and I wanted a crowdsourced way to see where my friend's sat on the different measures. I built the backend model to accept a ZIP code and return back a custom ballot for each user, since your Facebook friends may live in other states, so at most you would share the national portion of the ballot. I worked with a small core of friends to refine the app's features. I spent much more time than I should have building the website using some software called Freeway Express. I blogged regularly [2] and shared those links on various state/city subreddits. In the end, I spent about $100 on Reddit ads to get a total of 100 registered users and few endorsements. As not a designer, I recognized the app was not flashy, so it may not have been appealing to download. I also realize that the website doesn't do a good job in selling the app, and that I focused more on the ideas rather than the app itself. I wonder now how well a more polished version of this app would have played out in 2016 elections, although I recognize that the mix of politics and social media has gone downhill since 2016. [1] - http://www.supervote.org http://www.supervote.org [2] - http://blog.supervote.org http://blog.supervote.org

mannanj 8y ago
This looks interesting and something I have thought about for some time. What code base did you develop the web app in? And do you have an android version? I'd like if there were a slicker web app and possibly android app that I could play with. Maybe even I would help refactor this one day in the future.
- mannanj 8y ago
  Oh I just saw you shut down the app. What was the reasoning? Were you not getting enough use and participation? No downloads? Did you fail to execute the concept in some way?
  - augustocallejas 8y ago
    > What code base did you develop the web app in? The app itself was an iOS app written in Objective-C. > And do you have an android version? Unfortunately there wasn't. It probably would have been helpful to write it in something like PhoneGap (now Apache Cordova) to increase engagement, but I was using it partially as an exercise to learn Objective-C and iOS. > What was the reasoning? Were you not getting enough use and participation? No downloads? Did you fail to execute the concept in some way? At around 100 registered users, I felt it wasn't enough interest in the app to keep going. Some of the feedback I got through the App Store included not seeing all the available candidates (like lesser third party candidates) for a given election. Since I was entering elections by hand and not using a third party API to get the information, there was alway some information missing from the lesser elections. Also, after the 2012 election was over, I didn't see the purpose of maintaining an app that wouldn't be used for at least another 2 years. Its something you need to be dedicated for in the long haul.
splintercell 8y ago
Great, another app using which, people who know me in real life, can unfriend me. The problem isn't voting or lack of awareness (although I have an inkling on which side might think this is the root cause), the problem is polarization. More aware you are of what goes on, more polarized you can be. The problem which needs to be solved is to not get people hold opinions, but how to consolidate their opinions with the other side.

mannanj 8y ago

This looks interesting and something I have thought about for some time. What code base did you develop the web app in? And do you have an android version? I'd like if there were a slicker web app and possibly android app that I could play with. Maybe even I would help refactor this one day in the future.

mannanj 8y ago
Oh I just saw you shut down the app. What was the reasoning? Were you not getting enough use and participation? No downloads? Did you fail to execute the concept in some way?
- augustocallejas 8y ago
  > What code base did you develop the web app in? The app itself was an iOS app written in Objective-C. > And do you have an android version? Unfortunately there wasn't. It probably would have been helpful to write it in something like PhoneGap (now Apache Cordova) to increase engagement, but I was using it partially as an exercise to learn Objective-C and iOS. > What was the reasoning? Were you not getting enough use and participation? No downloads? Did you fail to execute the concept in some way? At around 100 registered users, I felt it wasn't enough interest in the app to keep going. Some of the feedback I got through the App Store included not seeing all the available candidates (like lesser third party candidates) for a given election. Since I was entering elections by hand and not using a third party API to get the information, there was alway some information missing from the lesser elections. Also, after the 2012 election was over, I didn't see the purpose of maintaining an app that wouldn't be used for at least another 2 years. Its something you need to be dedicated for in the long haul.

splintercell 8y ago

Great, another app using which, people who know me in real life, can unfriend me. The problem isn't voting or lack of awareness (although I have an inkling on which side might think this is the root cause), the problem is polarization. More aware you are of what goes on, more polarized you can be. The problem which needs to be solved is to not get people hold opinions, but how to consolidate their opinions with the other side.