Promise Media

Online polling surged in popularity after it was first developed and remained in vogue for a number of years. But it has faded for good reason.

It doesn’t have any credibility, and many people know it.

The problem of course lies with the ability of someone to vote multiple times and skew the results. Using cookies to block them from voting more than once helps slow people who don?t know how to delete cookies. But many people do.

The skewed results often were reported as if they were a factual representation of an issue. But it soon became clear when one political candidate received 100,000 votes and another received 100 that the numbers couldn’t be trusted.

Online polling provides a modest amount of value when used with questions about casual matters. But then the results on casual questions are typically low, which makes an online staff wonder why it should do polling at all.

Polling on a Web site should be used sparingly and never reported as being credible. It?s simply an amusing tool. There are better ways for a staff to use its time and energy.

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