A new Facebook app called “Vote With Friends” will allow the social network’s users to pressure (albeit hopefully in a friendly way) their friends to vote in the November election.
The voting app comes from Internet advocacy organization Fight for the Future and allows users to see if their friends on Facebook are registered to vote, if they’ve pledged to do so, and even if they actually end up voting.
The idea behind the application is to take Facebook’s poking concept and use it to (hopefully positively) pressure a user’s friends into participating in the election. Tiffiniy Cheng, the co-founder and co-director of Fight for the Future, stated of the app:
“We think [voting] is essential to what makes a vibrant democracy. Especially in the United States, we’re seeing that what your fiends are asking you to do actually affects whether or not you go vote. If that’s a part of voting in America, we should absolutely have the ability to do that online.”
The Vote With Friends app uses Votizen API, based on public voter file data. The data is taken and matched with Facebook’s social graph. Tiffiniy Cheng added:
“If you care about this election, this app will help you tell every friend you have, ‘Your vote matters. And if you don’t vote, everyone will know!’
Cheng also stated that the mission of Fight for the Future is to encourage the internet to reach its full potential “as a vehicle for engagement, expression, creativity, and the free exchange of ideas.”
By utilizing the Vote With Friends application users on Facebook can help with this goal of helping the internet become the best innovator and driving source behind public institutions.
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