Freagle Hopes to Make 'Virtual Town Square' for Citizens A Reality through Crowdfunding Campaign
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July 15, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Voters, politicians and elected officials will soon have a new way to talk politics following the launch of the crowdfunding campaign for Freagle’s ‘Virtual Town Square’ platform July 7 on Indiegogo.
“When you mention politics, lots of people disengage,” Niki Papazoglakis, founder of Freagle, said. “It’s become a dirty word because there is so much negativity and divisiveness associated with our current system.
FREAGLE isn't just about information. It's about becoming engaged and active, to be a part of the system again as the Founders intended. FREAGLE allows you to turn knowledge into action—meaningful action.
Niki Papazoglakis, Founder
We want to help make political debate substantive, civil and positive once again. We believe we can provide a solution through Freagle’s unique use of 21st Century technologies.”
The crowdfunding campaign is one of the final steps in making Freagle, which has been building its platform over the past year, a reality. The proof-of-concept is complete but funding is needed to finish product development.
When users register for Freagle, they will be automatically connected to their local, state and Federal elected officials. The Virtual Town Square platform is designed to facilitate substantive and civil debate between citizens, their elected officials, politicians, and each other.
“It’s taken more than 200 years for our political system to become as broken as it is today,” Papazoglakis said. “Political debate has devolved into sound bites and 30-second attack ads. This isn’t the system that our Founding Fathers intended for our Republic."
The Freagle service will also provide real-time, non-biased political intelligence and research using ‘Big Data’ technology. Through these tools, users can research issues, check voting records, and compare candidates.
“Freagle takes complicated political information that’s publicly available and presents it in a way that’s easy to organize and process,” Papazoglakis said. “It’s a complete and non-biased way to follow political candidates and elected officials.”
Freagle will also let its users actively communicate with their representatives, participate in opinion polls, and create petitions.
“In addition to becoming informed on the issues through Freagle, users can take action,” Papazoglakis said. “Freagle is designed to help citizens make a smart and positive impact on government and politics.”
Freagle’s services are geared towards politicians and elected officials, as well. The platform allows them to reach voters and constituents to solicit feedback, explain their positions on issues, and provide important updates.
“In Congress, we have 535 people representing a population of 315 million,” Papazoglakis said. “It’s next to impossible to truly represent that many constituents unless you have the tools to reach them. Freagle can provide those tools.”
As the most democratic methods of raising funds, crowdfunding is a natural fit for Freagle.
“One of the things we’ve found is that some of the traditional investors like being able to write big checks and have an influence on the process,” Papazoglakis said. “They’re also less interested in ideas that would take some of the political power away from them. With the crowdfunding approach, if people like our idea, they have the opportunity to contribute and be a part of making our platform a success.”
Freagle plans to launch early next year. “We’ll participate in select races,” Papazoglakis said. “If we are able to have a meaningful impact on the political process, we’ll be in a position to roll out nationally in late 2015 or early 2016, in time for the next Presidential race,”
More information and Freagle can be found on their indiegogo campaign page.
About Freagle LLC:
Freagle is a political forum that uses technology to restore democracy through citizen engagement and government accountability. With the use of social media, big data and other technologies it transforms the way politicians and constituents communicate and interact.
To learn more about the Freagle’s crowdfunding project Click Here
For more information about Freagle Click Here
Media Contact: Michael Hinton, Thirteen Communications, 1-225-205-5023, thirteencomm@gmail.com