Mobile App Show of Hands sets precedent during Vice Presidential Debate: Moderates Nation

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Oct 12, 2012, 04:44 ET

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Show of Hands user base took part in an unprecedented real-time interactive polling exercise last night during the Vice Presidential debate between Congressman Paul Ryan and Vice President Joe Biden.

Show of Hands is rated a 5-star Mobile App and is gaining serious momentum in the iPhone, Kindle Fire and Android mobile communities. Over 300,000 people have downloaded the app for their smart phone or tablet, and have contributed to 45 million votes overall across a wide range of topics. The app is free and anonymous, which both broadens participation and people's comfort in sharing sensitive opinions.

"We first tested real-time event polling during the 2011 Super Bowl. I thought it would be fun to get people's immediate reaction on the commercials. During the game we collected 100,000 votes, and by the end of the game we had a ranking of the fan favorite commercials – two days before the media," said Tony Bacos, Show of Hands founder and MIT graduate. "We did it again during the first 2012 presidential debate, and received 1 million website hits and over 140,000 votes."

The first presidential debate also yielded some valuable data. Show of Hands users are currently being polled weekly on their preference for President, and on how certain they were in their decision. "87 percent of voters said they were '100% certain' of who they were voting for before the debate between Obama and Romney began," Bacos stated. "5% of those users subsequently switched their vote after the debate. This demonstrates that the race is more fluid than people expected, and the 'undecided' pool might still be bigger than people think."

Nearly the same amount of users participated in Thursday's Vice Presidential debate as did in the Presidential debate. The www.showofhands.mobi site again saw one million age views and received around 135,000 answers to the questions polled. "People watched their TV with their phone or tablet in hand, and had a blast participating in a deeper way than just watching," Bacos said. "TV is becoming more than a spectator sport."

To download Show of Hands and voice your opinion on a plethora of debate topics for the Tuesday October 16^th debate between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney, use these links:

Apple App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/app/show-hands/id336442597?mt=8

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.soh.soh

Kindle Fire: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006RAM352/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

SOURCE Show of Hands