Swisspoll.ch turns us all into pollsters

Polls are as old as the web itself: a question with two or more answers that the user answers with a click of the mouse. Now polls are becoming interactive and entering the Web 2.0 age: anyone can post polls online free of charge at Swisspoll.ch. According to its operators, the Swisspoll web portal is intended to become a real opinion community. In contrast to traditional market research, where surveyors elicit opinions from respondents by telephone or in person, the answers on Swisspoll are given voluntarily. The only incentive to answer is to see the interim result with the other answers. A small community of registered Swisspoll users has already formed who regularly answer the new polls. Swisspoll aims to enrich traditional market research with a new tool: For 180 francs, a few minutes' effort and within 48 hours, Swisspoll wants to provide its customers with answers to closed questions in future. According to the Zurich-based start-up company, whose website has been officially in operation since August, this should enable a business plan, a product name or an advertising idea to be assessed more quickly than before.