* From The Hill…
Facebook released on Wednesday a new set of tools to help facilitate civic engagement and discourse between voters and their representatives.
The new tools give both constituents and lawmakers more targeted means of interacting with another, and are a part of Facebook’s larger push to introduce civically focused features to the platform. […]
The “Constituent Badge,” feature will allow users to opt in to displaying a badge that they are a part of a lawmaker’s district, so that they lawmakers can know that they’re engaging with those they represent.
Along with the new badges, Facebook introduced “Constituent Insights,” a tab that allows lawmakers and their staff to see what topics and news stories their constituents are talking about. If there is a spike in discussions about something like crime, or the budget, representatives would be able to see this. A developer noted that trending news stories among constituents wouldn’t just be limited to news stories, so that they could get full insights on what their districts are discussing.
The “Districting Targeting,” feature allows lawmakers to make posts visible only to their district, with the idea of turning posts into a “mini community meeting.” The company also noted that in addition to posts targeted directly to districts, representatives would have the option of targeting live videos as well.
Thoughts?
- Saluki - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:41 am:
I think this is excellent.
- allknowingmasterofracoondom - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:41 am:
OMG, this will be absolutely nuts. I see “farms” of constituents being formed/hired to fill facebook up with their opinions……and fake news.
- Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 11:58 am:
Seems kind of Orwellian. Big Brother Facebook will tell your representative what you’re talking about - today in the aggregate and tomorrow individually?
- Ron Burgundy - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:01 pm:
Because the internet and specifically social media is the home of rational, civilized discourse… (present company excepted)
- The Way I See It - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:09 pm:
On the one hand, it is a really cool civic minded idea. On the other hand, FB is one of the great data miners of all time …
- Chicago_Downstater - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:18 pm:
I’m conflicted about it. I mean I think it’s awesome to increase access and communication between constituents and their politicians.
But mostly I think all this is going to do is give another platform for the most extreme points of view. Basically, I imagine it’ll just be “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” on steroids. And I worry that this will just exacerbate partisan games and political polarization.
- Arsenal - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:19 pm:
We’ll have to see how the tools work in real life. But right now, it’s very interesting that Facebook sees a market to exploit in increased civic engagement.
- Robo - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:19 pm:
Is someone at Facebook running for President?
- Name Withheld - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:25 pm:
So what happens when a legislator wants to query patterns of behavior for people in his district? Their sentiments. Their friends sentiments. Their activities and location of those activities.
It sounds theoretically like a good idea - but I don’t trust how it would be used or implemented.
- illini - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:36 pm:
I did sign up for a Facebook account some years ago because I thought it might help me connect with old college classmates - it did not help me.
Not a real fan of the social media in general. Showing my age I suppose.
The internet is another matter. Whenever I feel I have a pertinent opinion or wish to make a point I will take the time to email members of the GA. Yet I do not feel that that short tweets or facebook posts can adequately express my opinion, outrage or concerns.
I prefer a reasoned, well composed and constructed email to get my message across.
Surprisingly, I have not received responses from the past 5 emails I have sent to my 2 members of the GA, but every one sent to other members, because of their positions, affiliations or committee assignments has resulted in opening a dialogue that can continue.
Neat idea, I suppose, but I don’t see the point.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:41 pm:
I’m sure this won’t be abused at all
- Mahna Anon - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:45 pm:
Wow, lots of social media haters out there. Here’s some advice - if you don’t like, simply don’t use it!
- Flapdoodle - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 12:57 pm:
Arsenal @ 12:19 may have hit the real truth: “. . . Facebook sees a market to exploit . . . .” That’s what FB be all about, nothing more, nothing less.
- Amalia - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 1:23 pm:
nope. not putting a badge on to be in the community.
- A guy - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 1:42 pm:
I wonder if any pollsters will be interested in this? Hmmmm..
- cdog - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 1:56 pm:
Facebook is very Orwellian. Talk about social engineering.
In the news this week Facebook is taking heat for shutting down a couple pages, and are being accused of doing the front line to eliminate any voices seen as blasphemous or apostate.
“On May 8, the social media platform blocked and then shut down the pages of two popular moderate Muslim groups — on the grounds that their content was “in violation of community standards” — without explanation… The pages that Facebook shut down, however — Ex-Muslims of North America, which has 24,000 followers; and Atheist Republic, with 1.6 million — do nothing of the sort. In fact, they are managed and followed by Arabs across the world who reject not only violence and terrorism, but Islam as a religion.”
Facebook has a the ethics of a snake. Beware.
- Huh? - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 2:14 pm:
Glad I’m not in FB, Twitter, Instagram.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 2:24 pm:
Lucky Pierre will love it!
- Union Thug Gramma - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 3:53 pm:
And betcha Roskam will still be invisible!
- Vote Quimby! - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 3:55 pm:
I predict a rash of new Facebook accounts “in” targeted districts…
- Boris - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 4:30 pm:
I think this is great idea. As several commenters notes, it has to be implemented correctly to protect against potential abuses. Having wasted a lot of time over the years trying to interact with my elected officials, almost anything would be an improvement over the current model.
- Rabid - Thursday, Jun 8, 17 @ 6:52 am:
Politicians need fakebook to connect, hide behind