Scottish independence: ‘Yesmo’ mobile app launched

The mobile app is designed to canvass opinions and donations from the public. Picture: Getty

Scottish nationalists have been told to strike-up “yes conversations” with the public to collect money and record opinions on handheld electronic devices for the independence campaign.

The SNP has launched a mobile app called ‘Yesmo’ with ‘recruit’ and ‘donate’ functions to canvass opinions and donations in pubs, cafes and public transport and record the outcome “in real time”.

Campaign director Angus Robertson, also the party’s defence spokesman, contrasted Yesmo with the “old style, top down media air war” of the “organisationally challenged” no campaign.

Speaking at the SNP Conference in Perth, Mr Robertson said: “Personalised stats are available on the app to let folk keep a tally of the number of ‘yes conversations’ that they will have on the journey to the referendum, and hopefully be a motivating factor to be more competitive.

“The ‘recruit’ button in the app allows us to record canvasses of the people who you happen to start chatting with while in the pub, the cafe or the bus.

“The Yesmo mobile app will ensure that every conversation counts.

“There is a quick donation functionality in-built to encourage multiple small donations for users and supporters.

“This technology enables us to record the outcome of our conversations with the voter in real time, and means the data gets into the system quicker and is available for analysis.

“Analysis of the data gathered against the most recent socioeconomic data available will enable us to direct our campaigners to the most promising switchers.

“These voters will be persuaded, enthused and motivated to vote yes by their friends, family members, colleagues and peers.

“This contrasts fundamentally with the old style, top down media air war approach favoured by those who are organisationally challenged and do not have the same scope or scale of grassroots and sectoral activism.”