Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Zencity, a company that tracks citizen sentiment on social media for local governments, announced Thursday it is acquiring civic polling firm Elucd.
Why it matters: Keeping tabs on citizen's feedback and responses to government actions has become a key job for local leaders who are dealing with multiple crises brought on by the pandemic.
What they're saying: The companies say the combination will give cities, counties and law enforcement agencies a digital platform to track a community's opinions, reactions and needs in real time. This will help local leaders address skepticism and misinformation related to measures to contain COVID-19, as well as efforts to roll out vaccinations.
- "City leaders are making life-changing decisions every day. They need to be able to see what's working and what's not," said Eyal Feder-Levy, CEO of Zencity, which is based in Tel Aviv.
- Elucd conducts smartphone polls of demographically representative populations, providing near-instant feedback from a broad sample of people.
- The companies say they collectively work with more than 200 cities.
Reality check: While plenty of people are using social media and responding to smartphone polls these days while they are stuck at home, the tools have limitations.
- Relying only on digital mechanisms for feedback will inevitably leave out the voices of citizens who don't participate in social media or online polls.
- The companies acknowledge this limitation, but point out that their methods are still more inclusive than previous citizen engagement strategies — such as town hall meetings — that have high barriers for participation.
The bottom line: "We're not suggesting it should be the sole measure of community feedback," said Michael Simon, CEO of Brooklyn-based Elucd.
- Still, he said, his company's system allows governments to get a snapshot of a community's needs, responses and opinions during a very tumultuous time.
Go deeper: Cities track social media sentiment through social media