First there was the 2010 midterm elections in the US, followed by the 2012 presidential election – now it looks like Facebook will extend its political influence to the UK general election.
Announced today, Facebook will prompt every UK adult on Facebook to register to vote, ahead of the election in May. This foray into British Politics is the result of a partnership with the Electoral Commission, with the latter running a campaign in conjunction with the Facebook ‘life events’.
The creation of the ‘life event’ on Facebook will inform the user’s network that they have registered to vote. Facebook will prompt users with a reminder at the top of users’ newsfeeds on Thursday.
Why Thursday? Well the answer to that lies in the reason behind this campaign. Thursday marks national voter registration day, with the Electoral Commission and Facebook campaigns seeking to boost voter registration – especially to those who are younger and who are due to turn 18 before the election.
The Guardian cited Elizabeth Linder, Facebook’s politics and government specialist for Europe, as saying: "Over 35 million people in the UK use Facebook, considerably more than the number of people who voted in the last general election."
"We’re seeing that many of them are already using the platform to have their say on who should govern this country …. We hope that through partnerships like this one with the Electoral Commission, we can make sure those conversations lead to higher turnout on 7 May."
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