ABC and Facebook unveil 2008 presidential race coverage

Marking yet another landmark in the continuing political influence to be gained by using the Internet to reach potential voters, American media giant ABC has this week announced a new partnership with Facebook, which will provide the social networking site’s users with direct access to all the latest news and discussion forums related to the ongoing U.S. presidential race. ABC and Facebook join forces to deliver 2008 presidential race content to social network users. Credit: Facebook.

ABC and Facebook join forces to deliver 2008 presidential race content to social network users. Credit: Facebook.More pointedly, with a little less than a year to go before America selects a new president to replace George W. Bush, the new deal will see Facebook delivering ABCNews.com’s editorial content to its 56 million social networking users via a new U.S. Politics application."We thought it would be a great opportunity for us to make available to the people already having the ongoing discussion and debate on Facebook the full range of ABC News political reporting," outlined David Westin, president of ABC News, in an ABC report. Westin also added that ABC’s editorial content will remain in keeping with the Web 2.0 user-created ethos utilised by the likes of Facebook insofar as user discussion and reaction will contribute to how the network covers unfolding campaign events. Furthermore, Facebook users will be able to actively subscribe to the profiles of specific ABCNews reporters embedded with the presidential contenders, which will see them provided with regular news, blog, and photographic updates following every presidential twist and turn ahead of the final race to the White House.The new U.S. Politics application will also enable Facebook users to take part in polls regarding various campaign issues through its ‘Pulses’ section, which will allow them to monitor feedback offered up by their fellow Facebook residents as well as official ABCNews poll results. They will also gain access to the Debate Groups section, which provides a platform for users to discuss various politically motivated thoughts, reactions, and opinions.Facebook users wanted to adopt the U.S. Politics application can find it by typing ‘U.S. Politics’ into the social network’s search box, or by selecting it via the Applications ‘edit’ option. News of ABC and Facebook’s deal follows YouTube’s recent hosting of debates between the forerunning Democratic presidential candidates via its online video-sharing Web site. Tomorrow it will play host to similar debates for the Republican candidates.