Sean Parker Announces Launch of Brigade: Social Networking for Politics

Technology and social media has hugely impacted the way people engage in the world today. Never before has there been a platform for political social networking where Americans can engage in politics until last Wednesday with the launch of Brigade, which is preparing to significantly transform political dialogue. Co-founder of Napster and former Facebook president, Sean Parker believes that Brigade is an effective network for political information, opinions, and will transform the way Americans participate in politics. Facebook can make people feel uncomfortable taking political stands online and Brigade is the perfect outlet.

 

The American political system is flawed with low voter turnout and even uninformed voters. The potential of Brigade to transform current political engagement and activate citizen participation is tremendous. Only a year into development and with $9 million in funding from prominent investors including Ron Conaway and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Brigade is launching with an invitation-only beta stage. Brigade CEO Matt Mahan and President James Windon believe that the app will help inform people on significant issues and engage citizens where it really counts.

 

The app asks users to agree or disagree on all sorts of issues in the news and allows them to see how their thinking matches up with that of their peers. Some issue statements for new Brigade users to consider included: “Desalination could solve California’s water shortage,” and “Major airlines push to reduce the size of carry-on bags would be a burden to business travelers.” Like Twitter, users can create their own opinions limited to 110 characters per post. The most popular topics were drug policy, minimum wage, health care, discrimination and immigration. Brigade hopes to be the best platform for political groups to increase engagement and even help increase citizen participation in important issues such as the ever-changing American health care policy.

 

Written by Alison Killian

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Alison Killian is a recent graduate of Grove City College who majored in Business Management and minored in Biology Studies. She is a contributor to Medical Groups and passionate about all facets of healthcare. She plans on continuing work in the healthcare field especially in management. She is very interested in healthcare innovation and finding ways to improve the current system. She hopes to go back to school in a few years to earn a degree in medicine.