Facebook is hoping their site can guide people in the United States to the polls this Election Day. The social network has built a polling place locator tool, so on Tuesday, users can easily figure out where to head to cast a ballot.
The map is already live at Facebook’s U.S. Politics page, but will be available at the top of news feeds on Election Day.
Like past elections, Facebook will feature a header at the top of the page reminding users it is Election Day, and allow them to click on an “I voted” button that will show photos of their friends who have also clicked on the button. When a Facebook user clicks on the “I voted” button, the locator map will become available for them to track down a polling station.
The locator was built in conjunction with the Voting Information Project and is a joint effort from state and local elections officials, the Pew Center on the States, Google, AT&T and Microsoft.
And for the first time, the site will also feature a heat map showing where the aggregate Facebook population is voting around the country in realtime. Users won’t be able to see where specific members voted but can see which areas of the United States are hotspots for ballots cast.
The map will also become available when users click the “I voted” button or at facebookstories.com/vote.
“We’re simply promoting civic engagement on election day,” Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes tells Mashable. “Studies have shown that a person is more likely to vote with social context, and there is no place more social than Facebook.”
Facebook had previously also launched a campaign insights tool with CNN allowing voters to learn what issues the Facebook population was buzzing about around the country during the election season.
The polling locator map is currently unavailable on mobile, but Noyes says Facebook is planning to have it accesible through apps tomorrow.
Will you use Facebook’s polling locator to get to vote tomorrow? Share in the comments below.
Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, EdStock
Mashable explores the trends changing politics in 2012 and beyond in Politics Transformed: The High Tech Battle for Your Vote, an in-depth look at how digital media is reshaping democracy.
Read a few of the top posts from the series:
- Election 2040: The First President for Digital Natives
- Voter Data: What the Candidates Know About You
- How to Market the Next President
- Gaffesplosion: The Unrelenting Hype of Modern Politics
- How Social Media Can Safeguard Your Vote
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