Do You Know Who You're Voting for?

LONDON, March 19, 2010 - It's being hailed as the UK's first on-line election and the most eagerly
anticipated for decades with 74% * of the population saying they'll be
voting, according to research published today. If this proves true it'll be a
significant increase on what happened in the last election 5 years ago, when
just over 60% of voters turned out.

But the study, commissioned by video communications company Winkball.com,
suggests enthusiasm for the election doesn't necessarily go hand with
political knowledge. Nearly half of people questioned (44%) can't name their
current MP and 3 in four voters admit to not knowing who is standing at the
next election.

The research says, when it comes to winning our vote, first impressions
are crucial…..one in three of us of us say seeing your prospective MP
on-line on video is now as effective as getting a leaflet through the door in
terms of helping us decide who to vote for. The younger you are, the more
likely you are to be influenced by seeing a prospective parliamentary
candidate on-line.

Young people (16 - 24) are most likely not to vote because they lack
information about the candidates. And 45 - 54 year olds are the most
disillusioned with politics, with 77% saying politicians are all as bad as
each other.

The research is part of Winkball.com's unique initiative; " Do you know
who you are voting for?" which aims, for the first time ever in the UK, to
get all 3000 Prospective Parliamentary candidates (PPC's) represented on
video on-line. Among the hundreds of political speakers to have uploaded a
video on the site are Clare Short, Lembit Opik and William Hague.

WinkBall co-founder Dr James Ohene-Djan says, "Campaigning has
never been this exciting and, as our research shows, the electorate has never
seemingly been so interested in politics! This is truly an online election
and that gives the electorate an amazing insight into so many prospective
parliamentary candidates. We're aiming to interview and feature as many PPCs
as possible on Winkball.com. This is a first for the UK and a fantastic
opportunity for voters to see what exactly makes their local candidates tick.
General Elections are so often fought and won on national issues, but by
publishing the views of practically every candidate standing online, this is
a great way of making a national election local.

Voters can also get involved with their local candidates. All
they have to do is record and post their own comment or question on a video
wall to which a candidate can choose to respond to."

Professor Ivor Gaber, Professor of Political Campaigning at City
University added;

"As every election campaign approaches ,pundits say "This time it's going
to be different" - but this time it might. In 2005 - three years BB (Before
Barack) - there was no Facebook or Twitter, Youtube and the blogosphere were
just blinking their way into the light and no one had thought of using
Photoshop to subvert political posters. But its not just online campaigning
and anarchy that could make the difference. We've never had leaders' debates
before. So hang on the election ride could get bumpy but it's almost sure to
be fun (and that's not something I have ever said before)"

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW;

Professor Ivor Gaber - Professor of Political Campaigning, City
University

Dr James Ohene-Djan - founder and Managing Director Winkball.com, and
lecturer at University of Goldsmiths

    Other research findings:

    - 53% of people think Conservatives will win, but only 29% say they'll be
      voting Conservative
    - 1 in 3 think it'll be labour, but only 22% sat they'll vote Labour,
      with 13% voting Lib Dem
    - The older we get the more likely we are to vote Tory. 1 in 4 16 - 24
      year olds say they'll vote Tory, but 65 and over it's nearly half (44%)
    - The younger you are the more likely you are to vote Labour - 29% of 16
      - 24 year olds say they'll vote Labour
    - For 68% of voters the overwhelming issue for the forthcoming election
      is the economy. For 13% it's the personality of the Party Leaders. MPs
      expenses are the main issue for just 9% of people.

*Research conducted by PollLab March 10 2010. 1088 people questioned

Notes to editors:

To add your message to the forces, visit WinkBall here:
www.winkball.com\walls\faces

WinkBall.com is a free, web-based, personal video communication
service, which allows anyone to record, send and share videos with friends
and family - privately. Users can also create and post content to video
blogs and walls for private and public viewing. Video messages delivered by
WinkBall.com can be accessed anywhere, anytime through a web browser.

WinkBall.com is also used by brands and organisations to share video
content, which users can actively choose to watch and share.

To set up an interview please call Shout! Communications on +44(0)207-240-7121, for Claire, or +44(0)207-240-8852 for Ashleigh.