Hands-On with Brigade, Disrupting Democracy

A few weeks ago, Brigade launched into private beta and I had to get my hands on an invite — the platform hoping to become the “Facebook of politics” intrigued me.

My profile after spending a couple of hours digging into the platform. The “how you and everyone compare” element is something that I continue to question. Does it matter if you typically have a popular opinion? Could this force peer pressure as that “All Issues” number drops?

Let’s take a walk through Brigade’s user experience.

The premise of the application is fairly simple: users write “positions” and other users take a stance. They either agree, disagree or fall into an “unsure” category that has yet to really be fleshed out. From there, users can draft a reason for their stance and other users can choose to upvote those comments. If a position seems particularly interesting to a user, they can choose to ask their “supporters” (more or less a followers/following mechanic) to take a stance. If a supporter concedes and submits their opinion on the matter, the user who originally asked them to participate receives an “Impact” point.

The amount of notifications reminded me of Meerkat and Periscope — they could certainly be overwhelming for someone who doesn’t like receiving a notification regarding every bit of influence you have in the app.

Campaigns

Campaigns are an interesting piece of the platform that don’t really have a direct impact on a user’s experience. They serve as more of an educational tool… maybe even an “extra” of sorts. I was asked if I wanted to support my first campaign after taking a stance on roughly the first 50 positions. These range from the one you see below, to ending corruption and secret money in the government to requiring that all genetically engineered foods be labeled as such. When I chose to support a campaign it did two things:

1. Place the campaign under the “Supporting X campaigns” piece of my profile.
2. Signed me up for email notifications and in-app notifications regarding new updates on the campaign page.

As I took a deeper look into campaigns, I realized that they are created by nonprofits. Each one has a byline: a campaign led by XYZ. Further down on the campaign page, it allows you to select the nonprofit and learn more about them. This lends itself to the foundation of Brigade: both Sean Parker and CEO Matt Mahan are fresh off of the Causes.com train. In an incestuous move, Brigade Media actually acquired Causes (Parker co-founded the platform and Mahan had reached CEO at the time of acquisition) right before rolling out the private beta. Parker then stepped down as interim CEO, remained chairman and Mahan took over as CEO of Brigade.

I believe that this extra appendage of Brigade will likely be one of the driving forces for monetization at a later date.

Sorry for the quality — these are all phone screenshots and Medium is built for higher res images. :)

The campaign page has a newsfeed-of-sorts with updates pertinent to the campaign. Share buttons are in both the top-right corner as you scroll and at the end of each update — it’s obvious the purpose of supporting a campaign within Brigade is to help spread the word, or that’s what Brigade would like from its users.

I have become fairly addicted to the service but it concerns me. When Brigade becomes more widely adopted, will the security remain? Currently, I enjoy the anonymity of the private beta. Where are my opinions being housed? What will they be used for?

…discussing politics has become particularly taboo…

Whether or not you want to accept the fact that discussing politics has become particularly taboo is your own prerogative. In small talk and social media it is highly advised to avoid the hot button topics. No religion. No politics. Differences in opinion often lead to conflict. The conflict can, and has, led to death. Will a platform where everyone shares their political affiliations and expresses their reasoning for stances on some of the most provocative topics today continue to be a pure place? I’ve already seen a “fuck off” or two.

The mission is an honorable one, but where is the line? Does Brigade need filters? What would they filter? Conflicting opinions can be perceived as attacks — what’s the difference between a heated debate and an encroachment on one’s well being? Turning someone’s world on end with a logical argument can have huge ramifications. There are no easy answers. While we wish that black and white existed, most of it falls into a grey area.

“Friends.”

While the individuals who I have opted to “support” and those who reciprocated and have become my “supporters” are labeled as friends in the app, they aren’t. I could be taking this piece of it too seriously, but I don’t think I’d even want my friends in that circle. I enjoy the anonymity of the private beta. I love the simplicity of taking a side and if I feel strongly enough about it, leaving a reason. However, I wouldn’t want friends, family or co-workers in my circle of Brigade “friends.”

I feel like the comparisons throughout the application would be soured if it was my opinion versus those closest to me. I prefer to have these types of engagements with strangers. My profile has my name, my photo and my location and I’m alright with that. Much more would probably make me uncomfortable. Mahan mentioned in his interview with TNW that the intention is to bring together individuals — I think that my affinity for the anonymity can play a part in that. I have already established a few connections via the application that tend to support the same types of policies that I do. I feel empowered by that. I think, truly, the fear of being berated by those dear to me is what makes the introduction of those close to me on the platform a potential problem. Maybe I just suck at handling conflict in my personal relationships, who knows!

As the user base grows, so does the possibility of spam and stupidity.

After several hours of use, I have a few tweaks that I’d like to see that could enhance this version of Brigade on mobile devices.

Over the last two weeks, it has gotten to the point where my girlfriend will ask me if I’m using “that app” when my phone is in my hand. I’ve put a lot of time into navigating the entire Brigade experience and I have a few little things I’d like to see:

• “Select all” option when choosing which supporters to share something with.
• The ability to toggle email (and push) notification settings in the app.

For those, like me, who weren’t even aware that Brigade had a web app, you can turn off the bajillion notifications on brigade.com.

• An “Edit my reason” option alongside the “Delete my reason” option once you have drafted something on a position.
• The ability to filter the “How you and everyone compare” section — right now it shows the Top 3 categories based on most activity in that issue, but what if you could reorganize them by strength of similarity?
• A feedback function. This could be something that is driven by user activity — several users have actually taken to drafting a position for ideas they have for the app. The Brigade team could just go with it and create a “Brigade Feedback” issue that folks can select when they write a position.

The current way to submit feedback — once again through the web app that hardly any publication has referenced.

Questions. Lots of questions.

As I mentioned, I have put in a lot of time with Brigade over the last few weeks and I have been hooked. I’ve even got it in the dock tray of my iPhone homescreen. However, I have a ton of questions that I hope to see answered either through press or as the platform evolves.

First and foremost, what is the user data going to be used for? Where are all of our opinions being stored and what is Brigade’s intent with all of that information? They are gathering a wealth of information and it can all be used for an incredible amount of social good, but as a for-profit enterprise (and a startup in the Valley, at that) they will need to monetize. Where some folks have had an issue with Brigade’s president making comments about monetization, it would be silly to think that the folks who put up $9.3M won’t expect to see a return. It wasn’t a charitable donation, it was collectively an effort to back the digitization and disruption of our current democratic system.

I can see a system for on-demand reporting being established or a subscription-based model for advocacy groups and nonprofits, but I’m curious if they’ll get my whole profile or if I’ll be a faceless mass who gave his opinion on topics they find important. Brigade continues to speak to empowering citizens to have a connection with their elected officials. Will these representatives be given constituent analytics regarding important issues? Will it be a tool for incumbent campaigning?

In the Terms of Service, it states “We own the content we provide, you own the content you provide and we’re each responsible for our own content.” So are our positions, opinions and affiliations all protected from being shared at this point? Further down, it seems that there is a difference between “content” and “Materials.” They have the right to “copy, reproduce, process, modify, adapt, publish, edit, translate, create derivative works from, transmit, distribute, display, and perform such Materials and to incorporate such Materials into other works in any form, media or technology.” And yet further down it states that we have rights to our own intellectual property, which includes most everything we post. It’d be interesting to see what happens if there were any legal actions brought against Brigade.

Andrew Noyes, VP of Comm at Brigade responded to a position written that felt James Windon’s quote “If we can capture people’s attention, we will have a monetizable product” was yuck. I support his words and even piped in myself — the quote is a simple philosophy for product-first startups. There is absolutely nothing wrong with what he had to say. His role is to make sure that Brigade does, in fact, bring in money at some point.

Is 13 the appropriate age threshold for users? It’s hot business to mine the teen opinion, but will users that young taint the overall sentiment for some (if not all) of the positions on the platform? Are they knowledgeable enough to give a valid opinion on matters of foreign policy or more complicated issues? I suppose it may be more of a question of maturity at that age than intellect — for some of the folks who participate in the rest of the activities on Brigade may lack the knowledge as well.

What is being done to prevent spam or stupid questions? When discussing politics, there will be bigotry. But bigotry and extreme bias, in its own, is an appropriate stance. We each believe what we believe. On a platform like Brigade, raw opinion is its nectar, but what if someone posts something extremely slanderous? Are there parameters around those scenarios?

Will the app maintain its allure when it is more widely adopted and the element of anonymity is gone? I touched on this earlier, but I am different than some. I like the anonymous factor while others prefer spraying their opinions like a shotgun blast. Will it gain more traction once the flood gates open?

I know this is counter-intuitive to my “I don’t want my friends to join me on Brigade” opinion, but are there plans to open up the invites beyond email? Will Brigade soon have social sign-ins? Always a proponent of baking in social for both exposure and deeper social integration beyond sharing a link or a post.

In a blog post, Brigade stated the platform would “serve as a tool to empower people civically, enabling any person to engage with their representatives in a way that is easy, social and enjoyable.” However that featureset isn’t apparent in this first shipment. While it gives people a voice, I haven’t found a way to directly engage with my representatives. What are the plans for this?

Evolution of the product.

There are two parts of Brigade that I would like to see evolve. A user’s “Impact” and the state of debate on positions.

Are there plans for transforming the reasoning area to make it more like a debate? Or a forum? Right now people are trying to address each other and hold conversations but unless someone who voices their opinion comes back and looks through all of the comments, they may never see how someone else has responded. I’m seen people using first names and even @mentions but neither of those tag anyone.

The impact piece is interesting to me. At first, I thought it was when you persuaded someone to switch their stance. Then I found out it is simply getting someone to pick a stance. While at this stage, that mechanic makes sense in order to generate more engagement, but what true impact does that have? I can see this driving folks to be super spammy about requesting others’ opinions just in order to drive up their impact number. “Impact” sounds so important.

What if you were to measure impact by having the ability to truly sway opinion? More of an influence attribute. Say you ask someone to take a stand, they pick opposite of you, they see your reason and upvote it (Brigade would need some way to measure the action) and then switch their stance — that’s true impact.

I’ve droned on for long enough. Here is the gist of it:

The Good

Brigade is addicting, it has the allure of a “safe zone” for typically taboo conversation, engagement is high among an atypical early adopter crowd (I’ve seen high school girls from the Midwest drafting reasons for positions), the leadership team is kind, voracious and innovative and the user experience is smooth — once you figure out how to curb the number of notifications.

The Bad

They are storing some of our most intimate opinions in an unknown location with an undetermined purpose in mind. However, as with all social platforms, if you don’t want the information out on the Internet, simply don’t partake. For those who like having these types of discussions and really advocate for certain policies, or for people like me who are looking for a more appropriate platform for expressing my opinions regarding these issues, Brigade fills the void.

In fact, I’ve found myself paying more attention to what’s going on around me so that I can pick a side and write a position to pitch to the Brigade community before others do.

The Bottom Line

Try it. If it gives you a weird vibe, get off of it. Deactivate your account. The leadership team is stacked with folks who have their head in the right place. Veterans at the intersection of technology, media and public policy with plenty of startup experience. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Brigade so far, and will likely continue to stay ahead of the curve with the product. In fact, I’ve found myself paying more attention to what’s going on around me so that I can pick a side and write a position to pitch to the Brigade community before others do. The community still feels open and welcoming, a characteristic I hope will remain constant as the user base grows. It’s inciting activity, engagement and awareness on my behalf. Education is one part of the battle for citizen empowerment and improving the country as a whole.

Something important to note: Brigade beta is the first in a series of tools built to re-energize our democracy by getting people to act together. The company, as a whole, has a lot up its sleeve.

If you liked this review and would like to see more product pieces moving forward, please recommend. I also have plenty of invites if you’d like to try out Brigade Beta yourself. Find me on Twitter and DM your email address to get set up. Thanks!