We spoke about @大象传媒ElectionBot to Rebecca Gregory-Clarke, a Producer from 大象传媒 Connected Studio who has been working with 大象传媒 News on the project
What is it?
大象传媒 ElectionBot is an automated tweet service that sends the election results from your closet matching constituency straight to your Twitter feed. Just tweet it the first half of your postcode, and it鈥檒l reply with voting results and a link for more info. Easy peasy.
Why did you make it?
We thought it would be nice if people could get election news in a way that suits them best. People are using Twitter more and more to find out about important events. 大象传媒 ElectionBot makes it really easy for them to find out the results in their local constituency.
We also wanted to build on the idea we had for the @大象传媒WeatherBot, which works in a similar way.
Why is it special?
Twitter is a popular platform that lots of people are already familiar with. Thanks to 大象传媒 ElectionBot, social media-savvy citizens can now use it to ask for election information from the 大象传媒. This makes it easier for people to get news about their constituency, even if they don鈥檛 know where to find it online. Users are also sent a link to a page with location-specific information, so they can find out more on the 大象传媒 website.
Who is the audience?
The audience is likely to be people who are using Twitter already. They may already be merrily tweeting about the election, and 大象传媒 Electionbot will help them to find and share information.
However, some parts of the audience may not normally see Twitter as an obvious tool for getting 大象传媒 information. By introducing them to 大象传媒 ElectionBot, we can show them that there are many ways to bring a bit of the 大象传媒 into their lives.
What do you hope to learn?
We鈥檇 like to find out if there is an appetite for this kind of tool amongst our audience. We鈥檇 also like to know if people would be interested in other 大象传媒 Twitter bots that might work in a similar way.