Launched in April 2007, Yoosk started out as the creation of Thumbsize, a privately owned digital media company specialising in the use of participative media tools for digital democracy, engagement and public diplomacy. It is supported by Channel 4, Screen West Midlands and Advantage West Midlands through the 4IP Fund.
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Tim Hood
Chief Executive Officer
A management and marketing graduate, Tim spent many years directing international education and cultural relations for the British Council in South East Asia and Europe. He worked on training, development and public diplomacy projects aimed at overseas government officials and young professionals. Tim developed an interest in the potential for user generated-content and its potential to empower and connect people at all levels of society and this led him to set up Yoosk with co-founder Keith.
Tim is Chief Executive of Yoosk Limited and Co-Founder of Yoosk.com.
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Keith Halstead
Chief Operating Officer
Before he started Yoosk, Keith ran his own film production company, Rusty Bike Films, producing informative and often thought provoking short films for government and international development organisations including Italian NGOs and the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture.
Through this, Keith gained great insight into the need for public consultation on a wide range of topics; and became a firm believer in the power of the crowd, which continues to drive his passion for Yoosk.
Keith is Development Director of Yoosk Limited and Co-Founder of Yoosk.com.
Our Statement of Neutrality
Yoosk’s neutrality is routed in the fact that it is Yoosk users that are the driving force behind it. Yoosk will not promote any agenda, shy away from the important issues or be influenced by any political leaning. Yoosk will be transparent in dealings with users and will always label where content has come from or state if any Yoosk channel is sponsored.
Whilst Yoosk offers a sponsored channel service to government and private organisations, users are assured that the rules of engagement governing selection of questions, rating and the League Table are effectively the same. Why do politicians and other organisations sign up to such a challenging process? Because they know that they will be judged in the court of online opinion whatever they do, and engaging on neutral, open and manageable terms is better than not engaging at all.
Yoosk will not edit or delete content from the site, unless it breaches the Yoosk rules of engagement. Yoosk will not edit answers or use them out of context and answers will be freely available to anybody who requests them.
Yoosk will be impartial and open minded and aim to reflect any opinion across the political spectrum and explore a wide range of views. Yoosk will strive to be objective and even handed in its approach to topics, ensuring that Yoosk’s position as a trusted platform on the internet is maintained.
Yoosk in use
Editorial policy