This is basically a way of phone-banking and canvassing via text-based methods! Some of my fellow autistic friends have been using it in lieu of phone banking/in-person canvassing and find it more accessible.
I imagine other people would prefer this for a myriad of reasons as well, such as: mobility issues making it harder to canvass, auditory processing issues affecting phone conversations, social/phone anxiety, being busy and not having time to do the other options, or just not wanting to talk in person or on phones.
@clatterbane this seems up your ally to share even though you’re in the UK right now, haha