Facebook App Identifies Non-Voters, Nags Them

Democrats in California using it in get-out-the-vote push
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 31, 2010 7:47 AM CDT
Facebook App Identifies Non-Voters, Nags Them
In this file photo, two votes look over the ballots.   (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Democrats in California who tend to skip Election Day may be getting a nagging reminder to vote from an unlikely source—their Facebook friends. The party is using a new app that scours a user's list of friends, identifies registered Democrats who don't actually vote a lot, and encourages the user to send those pals a note before Nov. 2, reports the Los Angeles Times.

"We're asking their friends to help us nudge those voters," says a party spokesman. "It's no creepier than getting a piece of mail saying vote for candidate X or candidate Y." He adds that funding for Friend Out The Vote came from Chris Kelly, who ran unsuccessfully for state attorney general in the party primary. He also happens to be Facebook's former chief privacy offer. (More vote stories.)

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