Facebook's first get-out-the-vote campaign hits US news feeds
Starting Friday, Facebook users across the US will see prominent reminders to register to vote.
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People post all kinds of messages on Facebook. Now the social media platform has a message of its own: get out and vote this November.
Live in the US? Over 18? Expect to see a voter registration reminder at the top of your news feed this weekend.
For the next four days, users in the US above the age of 18 will see a post reminding them to register to vote at the top of their news feeds. The post provides a registration link to help facilitate the process, along with the option of sharing your registration status to your timeline. And no, the post doesn't tell you who to vote for in Election 2016.
This isn't the first time Facebook has nudged its user base towards civic diligence, though most previous efforts came in the form of voting reminders on election day or as an online version of the classic "I Voted!" sticker. An actual registration drive is another step for the social media platform, which told USA Today it has "a unique ability and responsibility to show people this reminder that they should be checking their registration so they can participate in the election."
The nation-wide voter registration drive echoes Facebook's more targeted state-wide registration drives during the primary season earlier this year. In California, Secretary of State Alex Padilla attributed that campaign with a spike of 200,000 new registrations over just two days.