A Take on Urtak

New online feature is a cross between Twitter and Wikipedia

By Amelia G. Mango

If Internet surveys and Facebook groups could mate and reproduce, their progeny would most likely be the Urtak, a fun and slightly addictive user-generated survey program with endless marketing and research potential. 

Urtak, founded by Marc Lizoain and Aaron Gibralter, both of the class of 2007 and Mather, is a new way to conduct online surveys and amass user data. Unlike a survey created using an existing program like that of SurveyMonkey.com, however, an Urtak survey is dynamic—it allows users themselves to upload questions as well as respond. Any respondent can pose his own query (in yes/no answer format) using Urtak and submit it to the larger pool, to be randomly selected and answered by other respondents as they answer questions.

Also unique to Urtak is its simplicity. Only yes/no questions can be asked, and the two answer options, together with a null answer, allow an editor to select out the questions, which are no longer thought-provoking. Current questions on the original survey include everything from the weighty—“Do you support the death penalty?”—to the downright silly—“Do you like kittens?”—and everything in between.

But this random survey is more than just any random survey. Signing in with an email account and basic information—sex and date of birth are part of a user’s unique account—allows Urtak’s founders to cross-reference answers to questions, looking for statistically significant correlations and telling demographic data. Some facts about Urtak’s existing user base can be discerned from answers to single questions. For instance, roughly a quarter of users have answered yes to “Are you an Ivy League student?” Other data are interesting when analyzed in a systemic fashion. Despite a high percentage of positive responses to the Ivy League question, 73 percent admit they don’t know what a mortgage-backed security is, which may explain the current global financial meltdown. 

Recently, Urtak’s founders have also begun offering the chance for users to add a widget to an existing site—a blog, column, or homepage, for example. In early February, the Urtak for Maximum Ride, a book series by New York Times bestselling author James Patterson, launched to almost immediate success. Maximum Ride users who are particularly passionate or well-versed can click through the site at any time and answer questions—or ask their own—in relation to the book series. Just downriver at MIT, a recently launched Urtak is open to the entire student body; feedback on everything from classes to events to dining hall issues—73% of respondents agree that MIT food service needs to be improved—is available to anyone who wants the information. 

The potential of Urtak as a tool for advertisers, bloggers, and student groups—the Undergraduate Council, perhaps—is nearly unlimited. Moreover, as a creative and dynamic poll, it is a form of entertainment in the mold of Youtube and Facebook.