Replace comment sections with structured public opinion
Add a voting widget to any article in minutes. Readers vote on balanced statements, and you get a clear, data-driven picture of consensus, division, and common ground — no moderation required.
Free test environment. No credit card required. Live keys from £49/mo.
Do you agree with the following statement?
“Local governments should publish plain-language summaries for every major policy decision.”
Readers vote on balanced statements without leaving your site.
One iframe. Three layers of insight.
Paste a single embed into your article. We handle everything — from generating balanced statements to surfacing where your audience agrees.
Readers vote inline
A clean embed appears on your article. Readers agree, disagree, or mark unsure on balanced statements — without leaving your page.
You surface the snapshot
Display participation counts and a teaser via the snapshot API. Use it in sidebars, newsletters, or social cards — without exposing raw results.
We reveal the consensus
The canonical analysis lives on Society Speaks — opinion clusters, bridge statements, and full methodology. Link to it or quote short excerpts.
What your readers will experience
Explore a live discussion on climate action. Vote on statements, then see how the consensus analysis reveals opinion groups, areas of agreement, and bridge ideas.
The Discussion
What readers see on your article
Readers vote on balanced statements — agree, disagree, or unsure. They can also add their own statements and detailed responses with evidence.
Demo discussion
Climate Action: Finding Common Ground
20 statements · 400+ votes · Multiple opinion groups
The Consensus Analysis
The insight you can cite and reference
After enough participation, the analysis reveals opinion clusters, consensus statements, bridge ideas, and interactive visualisations — structured data you can reference in reporting.
Analysis includes
- Opinion groups based on voting patterns
- Areas of consensus across all groups
- Bridge statements that unite perspectives
- Interactive scatter plot visualisation
This is a live discussion with real data. Vote on 5 statements to unlock the full consensus analysis.
Pilot manually or integrate at scale
Use the embed generator for quick starts and one-off embeds. For production, create discussions via API and render embeds automatically from your CMS.
Embed generator (manual)
Look up an article URL or paste a discussion ID, then copy the iframe.
- 1) Find your discussion
- 2) Generate embed code
- 3) Paste into your CMS
At scale (programmatic)
Best for large publishers. Your CMS requests a discussion ID once, then reuses it forever.
- 1) Lookup by article URL
- 2) If not found, create discussion via API
- 3) Store the returned discussion ID and embed URL
Integration in 3 lines
Look up a discussion, get the embed URL, and paste this iframe into your template.
<iframe
src="https://societyspeaks.io/discussions/{id}/embed"
width="100%" height="600"
frameborder="0" loading="lazy"
title="Society Speaks discussion"
></iframe>
Get {id} from the
Lookup API or the
embed generator.
How editors use this in practice
Over time, repeated embeds create a structured record of reader responses across your coverage — a clearer trend line than comments or reaction counts alone.
Why this matters for journalism
Journalism is under pressure: comment threads degrade trust, polls flatten nuance, and social reactions amplify extremes. Society Speaks gives editors a structured signal they can cite, compare, and report on.
Traditional Comments
- Loudest voices dominate
- No structured signal — just noise
- Full-time moderation required
- Nothing citable for follow-up reporting
Society Speaks
- Every reader's vote counts equally
- Consensus, division, and bridge ideas — quantified
- Zero moderation — we generate and manage all statements
- Structured data you can cite: "Society Speaks analysis shows..."
Plans that scale with your audience
Start free. Pay only when you go live. Every plan includes the full API, embed generator, and zero moderation overhead.
Free
Evaluate and prototype with no commitment.
- 25 test discussions
- Full API access (test)
- Embed generator & playground
- No credit card required
Starter
For independent publishers, blogs, and niche sites.
- Up to 100 live discussions/mo
- Live API keys & domains
- Usage dashboard & CSV export
- Email support
Professional
For regional publishers and growing newsrooms.
- Up to 500 live discussions/mo
- Everything in Starter
- Custom embed themes & branding
- Priority email support
Enterprise
From £2,000/mo
For national publishers, media groups, and high-traffic networks.
- Unlimited discussions
- Dedicated account manager
- SLA & uptime guarantees
- Custom integrations & onboarding
All paid plans include a 14-day free trial. Prices exclude VAT.
What's the ROI for your publication?
See how reader engagement translates to incremental ad revenue.
This is an illustrative model. Actual impact depends on content mix, audience demographics, and ad stack configuration. Talk to us for a tailored analysis.
Real-world examples at £50 CPM and 10% engagement lift
Scroll to see all columns →
| Publisher type | Monthly pageviews | Embed impressions | Incremental revenue | Plan cost | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niche / local blog | 500K | 25K | £125/mo | £49 | 2.6x |
| Regional newspaper | 5M | 250K | £1,250/mo | £249 | 5x |
| Mid-market publisher | 20M | 1M | £5,000/mo | £2,000 | 2.5x |
| National publisher | 50M | 2.5M | £12,500/mo | £2,000+ | 6x+ |
| Large national publisher | 150M | 7.5M | £37,500/mo | Custom | 10x+ |
Based on 5% embed penetration across articles, £50 display CPM, and a conservative 10% engagement lift. Higher CPMs (premium inventory, £60–£80) or deeper penetration significantly increase returns.
More than engagement — you're investing in public discourse
Society Speaks is built on the belief that structured, respectful public opinion matters. Every partner subscription directly funds the work that makes this possible.
Open-source tools
Revenue funds our open-source opinion infrastructure — free for researchers, civic tech projects, and non-profits.
Longitudinal studies
Aggregated, anonymised data powers long-term research into how public opinion evolves on the issues that matter.
Broader participation
More embeds across more publications means more voices are heard — not just the loudest ones in a comment section.
Better policy evidence
Structured opinion data gives policymakers genuine public sentiment — a credible alternative to social media noise.
When readers engage with a Society Speaks embed, you gain usable editorial signal now while contributing to a growing structured record of civic reasoning over time.
Frequently asked questions
Can we run a recurring daily or weekly prompt?
Yes. You can run recurring prompts using the same discussion and embed workflow. Many partners use this to build a repeatable reader signal over time, alongside article-specific embeds.
What can readers do in the embed?
Vote (agree, disagree, unsure) and report statements. They cannot submit new statements from the embed — that happens on the full Society Speaks site only. See the Rules of the Record.
How long does onboarding take?
Most partners go from signup to first embed in under 30 minutes. Domain DNS verification is the only step that depends on your DNS provider's propagation speed.
What about uptime and SLAs?
Best-effort service for all partners. Enterprise SLAs are available by agreement. Contact us to discuss.
Can I customize the embed appearance?
Yes. Choose from preset themes or set custom primary/background colors and fonts. See embed parameters in the API docs.
Do readers need to create an account?
No. Readers can vote anonymously directly in the embed. Optional sign-in unlocks features like submitting statements and viewing personal voting history on the full Society Speaks site.
Your first embed can be live in five minutes
Create a free account, generate your API key, and paste one iframe into your CMS. No credit card. No sales call. No waiting for approval.