Attention, Londoners! Facebook Wants You To Vote
Newsfeed campaign looks to encourage Facebook users to register to vote in upcoming May 6 mayoral elections
Facebook is showing its support for democracy with a new campaign that aims to encourage London’s youth to vote.
The social media network, which counts millions of users in the UK, has teamed up with the Electoral Commission to promote the latter’s voter registration service to users in the capital ahead of the upcoming Mayoral elections on May 6.
The campaign is today displaying a “voter reminder message” (pictured below) on the newsfeeds of users in the capital who are within the eligible age range to vote, and include a link to the Gov.UK portal where they can sign up ahead of the deadline on April 19.
Sign up
Registering on the Gov.UK portal will also make voters eligible to participate in the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union on June 23.
The move follows a similar successful initiative launched last year ahead of the UK General Election, which resulted in more than 15 million people viewing the registration reminder.
Facebook has also previously shared registration reminders ahead of elections in the US and Ireland, and in advance of the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum.
“Over 35 million people in the UK use Facebook, considerably more than the number of people who voted in the last General Election,” said Theo Lomas, Facebook’s politics & government specialist for the EMEA region.
“We’re seeing that millions of them are already turning to Facebook to share their views on the forthcoming elections as well as the broader European referendum debate. However, participating in the discussion online isn’t enough to get your opinion counted. If you’re not registered, you can’t vote. It’s that simple. We hope through partnerships like this one with the Electoral Commission, we can make sure more people will know how to cast their ballot and have their say.”
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