Sci-Tech Today | ABC News Reaches Out to Facebook Users

This is an interesting article because it highlights the increasing collaboration between "old media" broadcasters and "new media" social networking sites - and how political organizations might benefit. One concern not voiced in the article is whether these add ons and collaborations will be seen as intrusions by the users - who, in Facebook's case - tend to cherish its simplicity/ease of use.

The most visible evidence of the new partnership is on Facebook itself, where ABC News and Facebook have collaborated on their own profile page entitled "US Politics." At the top of the profile page is a button for a "US Politics" application that adds a new section to the individual profile page of Facebook users.

The new section allows Facebook users to "browse politicians" that they support, as long as the politicians have set up a Facebook page. The entry for Hillary Clinton, for instance, lists 53,000 supporters on Facebook, while Barack Obama's page lists more than 164,000.

The "US Politics" section enables users to list the debates in which they've participated. The current question asks "What should the federal government do about same-sex couples that want to be married?"

To promote interest in the new partnership, ABC News and Facebook will jointly sponsor debates among the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates on January 5, just three days before voters cast their ballots in the opening primary.
Impact on Campaigns.

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Sci-Tech Today ABC News Reaches Out to Facebook Users