Rocking the vote - All new interactive features come to Sidepodcast
Published by Mr. C
It's been almost a year since we last hosted a poll on Sidepodcast, so this week we are taking the time to completely revamp the voting experience. Hot on the heels of the recently introduced rate the race feature, we're debuting real-time and interactive live voting.
Pitching a pair of competitors head-to-head, the first of two polls is an entirely new concept for us. It has been designed for those times when there are just a couple of people competing for something and with only Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel capable of taking this year's driver's title, the duo happen to offer a great illustration of how it can be used.
You can vote immediately or watch the results of others voting without refreshing the page. Once you've voted you can share your choice on Twitter.
The second type of poll is a rethink of one that has existed on this site since we started out and we'll make use of this when there are several available options. It too updates live and real-time and you can share your choice with friends.
Free to decide
Coupled with the existing ability to rate various facets of an event, the new polling features will be integrated into the Factbyte Factbox coverage for the 2013 season. Polls can be created ahead of, during and even after a live race, ensuring the shared experience of watching events becomes ever more engaging and compelling.
If you're watching a Grand Prix next season you'll definitely want to have Sidepodcast alongside on a second screen somewhere, but in the meantime why not give the sample polls a try?
Please leave any feedback in the comments and do let us know suggestions for future enhancements. Notably inclusion of the 'tweet your descision' feature came directly from a suggestion from Mike following the introduction of ratings last month.
It should be noted that all of these features are being readied ahead of next year's Formula One season. It's fantastic that we get to try these kind of things out in the Sidepodcast playground but in their current form the polls may not work completely as expected. We know for example that there are issues with Twitter sharing and much more work needs to be done to improve the mobile viewing experience.
As ever there is more to come, be sure to watch this space.
