ABC News and Facebook in Joint Effort to Bring Viewers Closer to Political Coverage

Facebook, the popular social networking site, has become a full-fledged platform for communicating, sharing and advertising. ABC News is betting that it will become a platform for political coverage, as well.

ABC News and Facebook have formally established a partnership â€” the siteâ€™s first with a news organization â€” that allows Facebook members to electronically follow ABC reporters, view reports and video and participate in polls and debates, all within a new â€œU.S. Politicsâ€ category.

To underscore their collaboration, the two organizations will announce today that they are jointly sponsoring Democratic and Republican presidential debates in New Hampshire on Jan. 5, three days before the primary election there.

â€œThrough this partnership, we want to extend the dialogue both before and after the debate,â€ said Dan Rose, Facebookâ€™s vice president for business development.

The announcements are another sign that news organizations are looking to capitalize on the potential power of Facebook, which began as a database of college friendships, and other social networking sites. Media companies like The New York Times and The Washington Post have produced pages for use on Facebook and some newspapers, magazines and television stations have recently invited users to join special pages that are set up to follow reportersâ€™ political coverage. But ABCâ€™s new relationship is intended to be deeper.

â€œThere are debates going on at all times within Facebook,â€ David Westin, the president of ABC News and a new Facebook member, said. â€œThis allows us to participate in those debates, both by providing information and by learning from the users.â€
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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/technology/26abc.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin

Good publicity for both parties involved, eh?

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ABC News and Facebook in Joint Effort to Bring Viewers Closer to Political Coverage

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ABC News and Facebook in Joint Effort to Bring Viewers Closer to Political Coverage

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