Obama campaign launches Facebook Connect integration
Barack Obama's campaign has launched Facebook Connect integration for its social network. But with only two weeks left until the election, is it enough time to make a difference?
The Obama campaign on Monday announced that it launched Facebook Connect integration on its social network that aims at organizing grassroots campaigns, My.BarackObama.com.
"Starting today, you can connect your Facebook account with your My.BarackObama.com account," a campaign representative said in a statement. "When you do that, you'll be able to find your Facebook friends who are also on My.BarackObama.com. In addition to that, each time that you attend a campaign event or make phone calls for Barack, that information will appear back on Facebook. Your friends will know exactly what you're doing to help elect Barack Obama our next president."
The Obama campaign's decision to deploy Facebook Connect on its own social network shouldn't be surprising. Chris Hughes, one of the four founders of Facebook, works on Obama's new media initiatives and was instrumental in developing the Facebook Connect integration.
But it still smacks as ironic that it took so long for the Obama campaign to deploy Facebook Connect on its own social network. Although it's the first campaign to do so, time is running out until the election and conventional wisdom would suggest that it would have been best served deploying Facebook Connect integration sooner rather than later. Regardless, it's live now on Obama's site and can be accessed by signing up for the social network and clicking the "Connect" button when you log in.