MUMBAI: American new broadcaster CNN has teamed up with social networking platform Facebook for the 2012 US Presidential to offer an interactive and uniquely social experience for CNN’s on-air, mobile and online audiences and Facebook’s millions of users.
In this partnership, Facebook and CNN are teaming up to take the pulse of the American electorate and amplify the voices of the social site’s users as they share their thoughts and feelings on candidates and critical issues facing the country ahead of Election Day on 6 November this year.
This innovative multi-platform partnership will include “I‘m Voting” Facebook App an interactive application which will enable people who use Facebook to commit to voting and endorse specific candidates and issues. Commitments to vote will be displayed on people’s Facebook timeline, news feed, and real-time ticker.
The app which will be available in English and Spanish, will enable people to share their commitment to vote and support of particular issues or candidates with friends and will provide a way to see how many of their own friends they’ve enlisted to support those issues or candidates. These commitments will be visually displayed by U.S. state on an interactive map.
The app will serve as a “second screen” for CNN‘s America’s Choice 2012 political coverage. Via on-air, online and mobile segments, CNN personalities will use the app to ask Facebook users the most important questions driving the national dialogue and report on their answers.
"We fundamentally changed the way people consume live event coverage online, setting a record for the most-watched live video event in Internet history, when we teamed up with Facebook for the 2009 Inauguration of President Obama,” said CNN Digital SVP KC Estenson.
Facebook and CNN will measure metrics about President Obama, Vice President Biden, Mitt Romney, and the Republican vice presidential candidate as soon as the running mate has been named. As the campaigns progress, Facebook will report the aggregate amount of discussions surrounding each candidate and CNN will drill down on specific state-by-state analysis.
The two will also survey voting-age users in key U.S. locations and demographics around the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, Presidential Debates, Election Day and other significant dates on the political calendar.
CNN’s editorial department will work with Facebook’s research team to write the questions and publish the results on CNN, CNN.com, and on the US Politics on Facebook page, Facebook’s hub for campaign 2012 information.
"Each campaign cycle brings new technologies that enhance the way that important connections between citizens and their elected representatives are made. Though the mediums have changed, the critical linkages between candidates and voters remain," said Facebook Vice President-U.S. Public Policy Joel Kaplan.
