Guardian labs launches new notification system for US Presidential election
The Guardian’s US mobile innovation lab is launching a new mobile alerts system for the presidential election results that will, for the first time, deliver real time updates to mobile lock screens.
The notifications will include electoral votes won and how many states have been called
The updating alert will deliver instantaneous, up-to-the-minute results with the latest Associated Press election data, automatically loaded directly to lock screens for Guardian app users who sign up.
Readers will receive the latest information within one continuously updated notification, which will be always visible without additional taps, searches, or further access to a mobile app.
The notifications will show the the latest number of electoral votes won, how many states have been called, and the breakdown of the popular vote between the top two candidates. In addition, the notifications will also allow users to open the alert and access a live data visualization of the results and have the option to tap through to the live blog or the full results pages.
"We’re the first to take advantage of this brand new mobile alert feature, that allows us to update the latest data straight on readers’ lock screens,” said Sarah Schmalbach, product manager for the Guardian US mobile innovation lab. “No news app, or any other mobile app, has said they’ll be doing this on November 8th.”
Sasha Koren, editor of the lab added: “In adapting the technology the lab has built, and by applying the lessons we learned during the Brexit experiment, our goal is to bring live results notifications to a larger stage and to serve a wider audience during the biggest news event of the year. By adopting these notifications formats, the Guardian is taking the opportunity both to innovate within news delivery and to bring US election results to mobile users in the most accessible way possible.”
US app users (and those outside the US who use the Android app) will be prompted to sign up for live results notification via an opt-in screen from 4 November and the alerts will be available globally through the Guardian’s app notification settings.