Traditionally, to contact a politician, you have to know which politician is responsible for the political issue you’re concerned about, and then obtain their contact information. For example, if you had have a question about the education system in Ontario, you would have to understand that you cannot contact the Prime Minister as education is a provincial and not federal issue. Even further, contacting the premier may not be the best option as we have a provincial Minister of Education. For the longest time, finding this information could has proven to be very difficult or even impossible for many citizens. Those who are successful in finding the correct information then must write a letter to the politician in the hopes that it is received and responded to.

With telephones and now cell phones, contacting politicians has became more direct, and citizens can speak to a member of a politician’s staff and, in more rare cases, with the politician themselves. Additionally, the popularity of social media has made contacting politicians even easier as many of them can be found on a variety of platforms. Most citizens who feel passionately about an issue can conveniently contact politicians with a few clicks. However, many politicians find it difficult discuss issues on social media because many people use fake names or aliases, which prevent politicians from knowing with whom they are truly engaging.

iMatr and IQed solve the problems associated with contacting politicians by assuring them that they are communicating with verified users who have a physical addresses. iMatr uses geolocation technology, which lets politicians know that they are communicating with their actual constituents. Contacting politicians using iMatr and IQed uses all of the benefits of social media to ensure contact is direct and in real time while providing politicians peace of mind knowing that they are being contacted by citizens using their real names.