General Election: Labour launches new phone canvassing app with 'badges' to motivate campaigners
The badges - called 'fledgling', 'trooper', and 'chatterbox' - are awarded when activists hit targets.
Wednesday 13 November 2019 15:55, UK
Labour will launch a new version of its telephone canvassing app this week, with game-like "badges" to motivate its youthful supporters, who are being billed by campaign group Momentum as "an army of phonebankers".
With the party more than 10 points behind in the opinion polls, Labour hopes the app will help it take advantage of its large membership in a winter election where telephone campaigning is expected to be crucial.
The app, called Dialogue, allows members to call voters from anywhere with an internet connection, rather than travelling to a call centre at a fixed time.
Designed by head of digital organising Ben Soffa, it was first used in the 2015 Labour leadership campaign, when it was credited with securing Jeremy Corbyn's victory, then redeployed in the 2017 general election
The updated version includes several new features, including "badges", which volunteers receive as a reward for hitting targets.
Callers get a badge if they call for a certain length of time, speak to enough people, or achieve a certain number of results.
The first badge is fledgling; the second, trooper; the third is chatterbox.
A Labour source told Sky News the party planned to expand the system once it was in use, potentially introducing league tables between constituencies.
Experts said this "gamification" technique could prove effective.
"It certainly can work, depending on how it's done," said Cennydd Bowles, a designer who previously led user design at Twitter UK.
"It's a well-known nudge tactic that exploits humans' need for status and competition."
"Although it could be counterproductive for anyone who believes in the purity of the message - gamification for those folks could be pretty crass and likely unwelcome."
Dialogue is being heavily promoted by Momentum, which is calling on members to organise "phonebank parties" to identify Labour voters and test support for the party.
"We are building an army of phonebankers," promises internal Momentum literature, seen by Sky News.
Other new features include allowing callers to contact members as well as voters, something which was not possible in the old version of the app.
Callers read from scripts when canvassing, so new scripts have been added for members, asking about their skills and availability. Callers can then direct a member to the most appropriate event.
"This will enable activists to work together across the country to mobilise campaigning in key marginal seats, no matter where they live," a Labour spokesperson told Sky News.
The app has also been redesigned to reflect changes in privacy and data protection law since the last election.
At the beginning of a session, the caller gives their phone number to the app, which then calls them back to connect them to the system.
Calls out are also made through the app, meaning that neither the caller nor the person being called can see each other's phone number.
However, data protection experts warned that Labour could risk infringing the new law after internal documents seen by Sky News showed the party had prepared for the election with a sale of voters' telephone numbers.
Leaflets sent out to local constituency parties earlier in the year advertised "special bulk rates" for "buying new telephone numbers".
Two rates were offered: £327 for "a standard lookup that checks properties without a telephone number" and £662 for "a premium lookup that checks every property".
A lookup is a search of the telephone directory which finds the phone number connected to a name and address, which parties have access to from the electoral roll.
Buying landline numbers from BT, which owns the telephone directory, is common practice for political parties, who usually operate phone banks during an election.
The 2018 Data Protection Act classed phone numbers as "personal data", which is given special protection by law, although political parties can use this data as long as they carrying out activities for "democratic engagement".
"The fact that Labour central charges Labour constituencies for the data could undermine the 'supports or promotes democratic engagement' argument because it is dependent on whether the constituency party wants to pay for it," said Sam Smith, policy lead at health data non-profit MedConfidential.
Labour told Sky News it checked any telephone numbers with the telephone preference service, which lists people who have asked to be ex-directory, and carefully complied with all data protection law.
The party emphasised that if anyone wanted to opt-out of any communications they could do so using the guidance on the Labour website, or by asking for information when they were called.
Telephone canvassing came under scrutiny in the last election, when Channel 4 News reported that the Conservatives had hired a call centre to contact potential voters in marginal seats, including cold-calling prohibited numbers.
The Conservative Party told Channel 4 News that paying for direct marketing calls was common practice for political parties, adding that "all the scripts supplied by the party for these calls are compliant with data protection and information law."
Under the Radar is a Sky News project to investigate online political activity throughout the election, from targeted ads to disinformation
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