State

State was a London-based semantic-web platform developed by Equal Media Ltd and presented as a new kind of global opinion network. Rather than reducing public reactions to simple approval or disapproval, the service attempted to give users more precise ways to express views about people, organizations, events and ideas. Its central premise was that opinions could be represented in structured, computer-readable form and then aggregated into useful patterns across a large network of participants. The company behind State was founded by brothers Alex Asseily and Mark Asseily. Alex Asseily was also associated with the founding of Jawbone. Equal Media raised $14 million in seed financing in May 2012, with Atomico among the reported funders. State subsequently entered closed alpha in May 2013 with approximately 10,000 users. In September of that year, the company presented an invite-only beta at TechCrunch Disrupt. The mobile application and public version of the service launched in February 2014. At that point, the company reportedly had around 30 employees, most of them based at its London headquarters, as well as an office in San Francisco. State organized opinion through a large semantic dictionary of structured expressions called “headlines.” These headlines were intended to let users qualify what they thought instead of selecting only a binary like or dislike. Users could also “tune” into subjects, effectively following particular areas of interest such as politics or technology. The platform could import social connections from Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter, helping it build a network around existing relationships and interests. Because the opinions were structured and machine-readable, State aimed to summarize them automatically and compare reactions across topics. Contemporary coverage characterized State as an “interest graph” startup. The company’s broader ambition was to become a research-on-demand service. It proposed producing insights reports from aggregated user opinions for individuals, researchers and organizations. Examples described by the company included comparisons of public sentiment toward Facebook as a company and toward its Paper application, as well as analysis of the complex relationship between public views of Edward Snowden and the PRISM surveillance program. These examples illustrated State’s effort to capture combinations of opinions that conventional polling or simple social-media sentiment counts might miss. The project attracted a group of high-profile advisers, including Tim Berners-Lee, Deepak Chopra, Troy Carter, Eli Pariser, Andrew Paulson and Nigel Shadbolt. Their involvement helped position State at the intersection of the semantic web, social networking, opinion research and technology entrepreneurship. Despite its distinctive product concept and early financing, the platform did not remain active over the long term. By 2020, State was described as inactive, and Equal Media Ltd was dissolved in 2024. A separate platform called Collective Thinking launched using the same domain in 2025; that later service is not the same product as the original State platform.

State originated within Equal Media Ltd, a London-based technology company founded by brothers Alex Asseily and Mark Asseily. Alex Asseily was known for his connection to Jawbone, while Equal Media developed a separate concept centered on organizing and analyzing opinion. The company raised $14 million in seed financing in May 2012, reportedly with Atomico among its investors. This early funding supported the development of a platform intended to combine social networking with semantic technologies and sentiment analysis. State was announced in 2013 and entered closed alpha in May of that year. The initial test reportedly involved about 10,000 users. In September 2013, the company used TechCrunch Disrupt to introduce an invite-only beta. The service then opened more broadly in February 2014, when its website and mobile application became available to the public. At that stage, Equal Media reportedly employed around 30 people, with most staff working from London and an additional office in San Francisco. The product was designed around a semantic dictionary of structured expressions known as “headlines.” Users could select or construct more specific statements about a subject rather than expressing only a positive or negative reaction. This reflected State’s view that public opinion had more texture than conventional binary feedback mechanisms suggested. Users could also “tune” into topics, allowing the platform to organize interests around areas such as politics and technology. Social connections could be imported from Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter, helping users discover or connect with people whose interests overlapped. A key technical ambition was to make opinions readable by computers. Once views had been structured, State could aggregate, summarize and cross-reference them. This was intended to produce a richer picture of public sentiment than unstructured posts or simple counts of likes. Contemporary descriptions referred to the service as an “interest graph” startup because it attempted to map relationships among people, subjects and opinions. The company also outlined a potential business model based on research and data products. Alex Asseily described a future in which State could become a research-on-demand service. Its proposed insights reports would aggregate user opinions about concepts, brands or events and make those findings available to users and, potentially, researchers and organizations. Examples discussed publicly included differing reactions to Facebook and its Paper application, and combinations of attitudes toward Edward Snowden and the PRISM surveillance program. The latter example demonstrated the platform’s effort to represent linked but non-identical opinions rather than treating a person’s stance as a single overall sentiment. State’s advisory group included Tim Berners-Lee, Deepak Chopra, Troy Carter, Eli Pariser, Andrew Paulson and Nigel Shadbolt. Their backgrounds spanned the web, public intellectual work, media, technology and policy. The advisory roster reinforced the company’s attempt to frame the platform as both a technological and civic experiment in improving online discussion. The service did not maintain long-term activity. By 2020, the original State platform was inactive. Equal Media Ltd was dissolved in 2024, marking the end of the corporate entity associated with the project. In 2025, a separate product named Collective Thinking launched using the same domain name. That later platform should not be treated as a continuation of the original State service without additional evidence.

• 2025

  Separate Collective Thinking platform launches

  [1]State (website)en.wikipedia.org

  Collective Thinking launches on the same domain, but is identified as separate from the original State product.

• 2024

  Equal Media Ltd dissolved

  [1]State (website)en.wikipedia.org

  Equal Media Ltd, the company behind State, is dissolved.

• 2020

  Original service becomes inactive

  [1]State (website)en.wikipedia.org

  The original State platform is reported as inactive.

• 2014

  Public launch

  [1]State (website)en.wikipedia.org

  State releases its platform and mobile application to the public.

• 2013

  Closed alpha begins

  [1]State (website)en.wikipedia.org

  State starts closed-alpha testing with approximately 10,000 users.

• 2013

  Invite-only beta launches

  [1]State (website)en.wikipedia.org

  The service launches an invite-only beta at TechCrunch Disrupt.

• 2012

  Equal Media raises seed financing

  [1]State (website)en.wikipedia.org

  Equal Media reportedly raises $14 million in seed financing, with Atomico among the named funders.

State positioned itself as a global opinion network and semantic-web service designed to add nuance to online conversations. It sought to distinguish itself from binary social-media reactions by converting individual views into structured, machine-readable data that could be summarized, compared and potentially commercialized as research insights.

• Semantic-web opinion platform · 2014

  State platform

  The main State service was an online platform for expressing and organizing opinions about subjects including people, brands, events and ideas. Its semantic structure was intended to provide more nuance than binary likes or dislikes. The service aggregated computer-readable opinions so that reactions could be summarized and compared across topics.

• Mobile social application · 2014

  State mobile application

  The mobile application was released alongside the public version of State in February 2014. It gave users access to the platform’s structured opinion features and topic-following functions. The available reference material does not identify separate operating-system versions, feature tiers or later application releases.

• Opinion-research product

  Insights reports

  Insights reports were part of State’s proposed research-on-demand direction. They were intended to use aggregated opinions to describe sentiment around concepts, brands or events. The company’s examples emphasized relationships among multiple opinions, including reactions to Facebook, Paper, Edward Snowden and PRISM. The available material does not establish a mature paid reporting business.

• 2014

  Move from beta testing to public launchProduct launch

  Background

  After closed-alpha testing and an invite-only beta, Equal Media prepared State for wider public use.

  Action taken

  The company released the State platform and mobile application to the public in February 2014.

  Aftermath

  The launch represented the service’s main public availability period. Later references indicate that the original platform was inactive by 2020.

  Source

• Proposed expansion into research-on-demandStrategy

  Background

  State sought to turn its structured opinion data into a service useful to researchers and organizations.

  Action taken

  The company proposed producing insights reports based on aggregated views of concepts, brands and events.

  Aftermath

  The available reference material describes this as an intended business direction and does not establish that it became a sustained commercial operation.

  Source

1. 1State (website)en.wikipedia.org