A developed country needs a developed President and for selecting a developed President, well aware citizens are required. This same process is being used by many social media portals. Facebook, a social media giant always initiate with a new feature or technology to enhance its market value as well as to decrease the gap between the users and Facebook. Recently it was visible in the news titles because of its new feature "I m a Voter".
Recently this App was instantiated in the 16th Lok Sabha in India which is reported as a great success for the Indian democracy as well as Indian people. According to Facebook latest report, nearly 4 million Indian voters used the "I'm a Voter" button during the country's parliamentary elections. Now after reading these few lines some queries arise in our minds. So here are some of the queries that are resolved.
1 - What is this feature: Actually "I m a Voter" is a trait through which a user can click this button and inform his network/circle friends that they are going to vote. At first it was introduced in 2012 general elections of US. And with that start, it experienced an engagement of more than nine million users. After gaining a success of this feature was used in the recent general elections in India.
2 - How is it used: It works on the base of user's location. For e.g in currently held Indian elections, All users with Location: India were shown this feature. They can then click on the Share Now button which will result into a status from the user that "User is voting in 2014 for ABC Elections". The status will be shared to his/her friend's timeline automatically.
3 - Whats its influence: This trait will help to know about how responsible a citizen is towards his country. After Indian elections, FB is using this same strategy in Colombia and for the European Parliament going to be held next week. It is also being planned for citizens in Brazil, Sweden, Scotland, Indonesia, South Korea and New Zealand going to vote later this year.
4- Conclusion: It motivates a citizen to vote for his country after viewing the "I m Voter" status of his friend, which will automatically enhance the vote count. With the inclusion of FB in democracy two advantages have been attained. First is that the utilization of Facebook has increased considerably. Also with its use, the people will become more aware about the ongoing elections in their respective country and assembly.
Apart from this, Facebook recently added an Ask Button, which allows the users to ask about the incomplete profile information of any of its social media friends.
