Frequently asked questions

Why should I get involved?

Because you care about your community. PlaceSpeak transforms the way people interact with local decision-makers. For the first time, it is possible to genuinely communicate online based on where you live, work and recreate.

Is joining PlaceSpeak free?

Yes.

How do I use the site?

When you log in to PlaceSpeak, you are presented with a map of your local area. Topics are marked on the map with red markers. You can click these to get more information before visiting the page for this topic. After you have registered, you are then free to connect to, and participate in any topic allowing your participation. Please have a look at this tutorial (soon) to get you going.

Do you sell or share my personal information?

No. We simply verify to an issue proponent that you live within an area determined by them. We are not funded by advertising, and we do not release your personal information to third parties.

Is my address private?

Yes. The only person who sees your address is you. There is an anonymous green dot placed on the PlaceSpeak map which represents your place. Again, we encourage you to read our privacy policy.

How do you prove where I live?

We use a series of protocols to determine that the location you registered with us is your residence.

This includes:

  • your email
  • your home phone
  • your mobile phone
Can I browse the issues just in my community or everywhere?

You can browse issues everywhere. Please note that some topics may not permit your connection. This is because you are not eligible to connect. Many proponents are seeking input for residents of a specific area. If you are not within that area, a connection is not possible. If you wish to add comments, then we suggest you contact the proponent directly.

I was looking at a Topic and wanted to comment but I can't. Who decides who gets to comment on an issue?

Proponents decide whether all PlaceSpeak members or only those within specific areas can comment. If you would like to comment on an issue but are unable to we encourage you to contact the proponent through the Contact Information provided on their issue page.

What about my privacy?

Only you can see your profile. You alone control your public visibility settings. When you connect with a topic, you confirm that you live within the relevant local area. PlaceSpeak is not funded by advertising and will never sell or disclose your personal information.

I saw the video about privacy. Where can I learn more?

The best thing to do is to go to our privacy policy for a complete explanation of how much PlaceSpeak cares about your privacy. The staff and management of PlaceSpeak are citizens just like you and value our privacy in the same way you do.

Can I make my profile completely private within an topic?

You control your visibility. That's it. No one else.

How long does it take to set up?

30 minutes to a couple of hours depending on the complexity of your topic, and the amount of documentation and other content you want to load to the page. You can be up and running very quickly. If you are considering the Enterprise level plan, PlaceSpeak staff will do this for you.

Who will actually maintain my topic?

Basically, the maintenance of the topic is your responsibility. That is, you have to write the descriptions, upload the content and keep the site current, which is essential to keeping the interest of your community. Maintaining content is your job, but we'll maintain the technical end (security updates, bug fixes if necessary, etc).

What happens to my topic in the long run?

Public consultations have a life cycle, and so do topic pages. Eventually, after project completion you will probably archive your PlaceSpeak topic page.

What level of web analytics reporting will we get?

We provide access to the Google Analytics reports for your PlaceSpeak pages. You'll provide us with a Google Account email on sign up and you can download the reports yourself.

How much does it cost? Is there an ongoing fee?

PlaceSpeak has a number of pricing models. Please visit our pricing and features page. The standard subscription provides everything you need to setup, organise and publicise all your consultations, including hosting, support and periodic improvements to the PlaceSpeak platform. Pay monthly through our secure payment portal. You also have to option of paying on a yearly basis and benefit from the published discounts. Please be aware that PlaceSpeak does not see or retain any of your credit card information.

Subscription is per topic or consultation. If your organization wishes to run more than one topic or online consultation, it will be necessary to buy a subscription for each topic or consultation. Costs do not increase with the number of users, response to your topic or traffic to your site. Select the tier closest to your needs, either, Bronze (Starter), Silver, Gold, or Enterprise level. If you have questions about the features of these tiers, please visit here hyperlink for details. We can help you work out what you need.

Is it easy to get setup?

Minimal computer skill is required. Anyone familiar with text editing and having a Facebook account will be at home in adding content to the topic page.

Can you help me figure out what I need?

Absolutely. We pride ourselves on bringing our experience in as part of the service, to ensure our clients get what they need.

How can I learn to use it?

We have designed PlaceSpeak to be easy to use. If you already have some experience with web software you will be able to get started quickly. To get the most from PlaceSpeak we also provide tutorials and demos which you can access here.

How reliable is the technology?

Our servers are continuously monitored, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. PlaceSpeak will perform a fault diagnostic on any and all critical errors as soon as possible within a maximum response time of 2 hours.

What URL/Web address will my topic appear on?

Typically the web address will look like this: https://www.placespeak.com/topic/375/your-topic-title. However we can provide an address of your choosing (e.g. www.placespeak.com/yourname). This will depend on the features you have selected on our pricing page.

Can I integrate PlaceSpeak into my site?

We encourage you to include a PlaceSpeak link widget. We can theme PlaceSpeak so that it matches your organisation's visual identity. You can use Social Media to integrate consultation information directly into other websites and systems, including services like Twitter and Facebook. In terms of integrating with other software applications, PlaceSpeak has been designed to play nicely with others - allowing for integration with the widest possible range of other systems.

Can I customise PlaceSpeak to look like my organization's site?

We encourage you to use as much common content as possible to maintain a consistent look and feel across sites. Also, in the "links" tab on the right of your page, you have to opportunity to cross link to your organizations site, and from your organizations site to your PlaceSpeak presence. This can be accomplished by placing our link widget on your site which will take your community to your PlaceSpeak consultation topic page.

How can you meet my special consultation requirements?

PlaceSpeak can be customised to meet your needs. Typical customisations include adding/removing features, adapting PlaceSpeak to fit a particular consultative process, and specific integration of PlaceSpeak with other websites / tools.

Does it integrate with social media such as Facebook and Twitter?

PlaceSpeak has social media widgets to increase levels of participation and awareness. Please consult with each pricing package as the widget availability varies according to package. Typically you can integrate with Twitter and Facebook.

Do you remove irrelevant or illegal content?

PlaceSpeak is not responsible for the content and accuracy of material submitted by its users. We reserve the right to edit or remove any problems or updates which we consider to be inappropriate upon being informed by a user of the site.

How many consultations can I run with PlaceSpeak?

You can run one consultation for each plan you purchase.

Can I install PlaceSpeak on our computers?

No, PlaceSpeak is software as a service (SaaS) platform and is hosted on our cloud servers.

Can you host in my area?

Yes. Where customers need sensitive consultation data to be physically held in their territory, we can host using servers in data centres local to the customer.

We have a specific need that is not solved by your pricing packages, can you help with other services?

PlaceSpeak is happy to provide customized service to clients with special requirements for those who have selected the Enterprise level plan. Please contact us and we'll be happy to discuss how we can help you.

How many participants can we expect when using PlaceSpeak in our projects?

This question is hard to answer, since participation numbers depend on your outreach strategies. We suggest that you employ both online and offline strategies which would include mail flyer drops, posters, email, newsletters, Facebook and Twitter campaigns and virtually anything you can think of to create awareness and build adoption among your constituency.

Just like other community outreach activities such as a public workshop, effective online engagement requires a good communications strategy. We will be publishing an online engagement best practices "how to" in the near future.