November 27, 2007 2:47 AM
ABC News and Facebooks Bring Politics Online
Facebook partners with ABC News to offer Facebook members the US Politics application where they can access political reports from ABC and discuss issues about the upcoming election in 2008.
With the US 2008 election barely a year away, ABC News’ president David Westin said the partnership is considered “a great opportunity to make available to the people already having the ongoing discussion and debate on Facebook the full range of ABC News political reporting." The new Facebook application will contain up to date information about the presidential candidates and other campaign reports while members exchange ideas, express opinions, or debate about election issues.
As part of the application, US Politics will also poll Facebook users’ reactions on campaign issues and track opinions on key topics. "We're all about providing technology platforms to enable and facilitate information flow and dialogue," said Dan Rose, Facebook’s vice president of business development as he explains their objective “to extend the debate from being a one-hour session that happens on television to a dialogue that can take place before, after and now during the debate between voters.”
ABC News’ reporting and coverage of the election will be affected by the thread of discussions and debates in Facebook. Feedback, reactions, and discussions of Facebook users can help ABC to develop a consensus around issues that are important to people.
Members may subscribe to the profiles of ABC News reporters who are embedded with presidential hopefuls. All reporters will continuously post up to date news, photographs and blogs throughout the campaign directly onto Facebook. The technology of Facebook in connecting people and the editorial content of ABC News are expected to extend the reach of the application as members are alerted to the online activity of friends and will present a different environment for political debate among people who know each other.
To try the new application, type “ U.S. Politics” in the search field of Facebook.com
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