Screen Grab from Facebook
Facebook has become an avenue for people to express their political views, and its latest tweak will now allow users to publicly support candidates in their profiles.
With the US elections just around the corner, the social media giant is introducing a new “endorsements” feature—which can be seen on the candidates’ official page. Upon navigation, users are allowed to create a post explaining exactly why they are supporting the candidate.
“Similar to how politicians, newspapers and organizations endorse candidates for elected office, this feature allows anyone on Facebook to do the same,” Facebook’s product manager for civic engagement, Samidh Chakrabart, was quoted as saying in a Business Insider report.
“People who want to voice their support can visit a candidate’s page, click on the endorsements tab and explain their rationale for choosing that candidate,” he added.
Facebook users have long been free to show their affiliation with a candidate by liking and sharing their respective pages, but the “endorsement” feature now allows people to compile their messages to the politician’s news feed.
Users will also have the option to make their endorsements publicly visible or restricted to friends only.
The candidates will also be able to feature certain public endorsements on their page, but presidential front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have yet to do so.
Aside from giving users more freedom to promote candidates, the network also conducted several voter registration drives, which reportedly led to a significant increase in voters’ registration.
This latest move is part of Facebook’s “broader effort designed to get more people engaged in the civic process.”
The company introduced various features in recent weeks, including food and ticketing services as well as an e-commerce store. Khristian Ibarrola
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