Polls apart!

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Social media has become the ‘go-to’ place for most people today. Whether to get in touch with a long-lost friend or to vent out emotions, these platforms have become a one-stop shop for all.

At a time when virtual platforms are competing with each other to sustain users’ interest, an easy way to do so is by introducing new features every now and then.

Instagram is one such platform that makes sure its users are kept entertained and engaged by adding new features frequently.

After the much talked about ‘Boomerang’ and ‘Instagram stories’, the latest addition, that has many takers, is the ‘poll’ feature. This allows one to add a two-option question on their story with a voting sticker.

This sticker works like buttons and allows followers to choose a preferred answer and give their opinion. Some Bengalureans talk about this unique addition and its benefits on the long run.

Monita Bala, an RJ with Indigo 91.9, says that it is quite an engaging feature and also acts as an interactive platform for people. “It can be a lot of fun, especially for those who are habitually surfing on Instagram. There are various ideas that are put forward and the best part is that everyone keeps an open mind towards other’s opinions. Apart from personal and leisure questions, this feature can be helpful in putting forward important questions related to social issues. Hopefully, this way people can get the ones in power to listen to their voice.”

She points out that one’s anonymity should not be seen as an issue here and adds that people who are not concerned about their image on social media will always give honest opinions.

However, she also points out that one can give fake answers, defeating the purpose of the poll.

Mohith Raju, a digital marketing analyst, opines that this feature can be helpful if a person is in two minds to decide about something.

“I have many friends who are lifestyle bloggers and they use this feature. Seeing their interesting for this feature, I tried it too and found it to be a lot of fun. One can perhaps use this feature to decide a travel destination, the colour coding for an event, what dish to have and so on. Startups can use this feature extensively to do small-scale surveys to see which market group to target.”

This feature, he feels, is going to be a trend for a few months until Instagram comes up with something new and equally interesting.

Sumreen Sandhu, a student and a fashion blogger, finds this feature quite useful for her blogs and uses it quite often.

“Such polls have helped me connect with my audience easily and has helped me figure out what they like, what are the different topics I can write about etc. This also helps people know each other better and can prove to be a fun research tool for not very serious surveys.”

On the flip side, many believe that their responses are not completely anonymous and can be seen by people. So being careful of how one answers is the key.