Study’s Facebook Post May Have Sparked 340,000 Votes
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A single message sent to 60 million people on Facebook Inc.’s social networking site by University of California researchers may have encouraged 340,000 more votes in the 2010 election, a study suggests.
The work, co-authored by two Facebook data scientists, tracked the effects of the nonpartisan message from the point when it was first seen by individuals, through their personal network and into the voting booth. When the first recipients passed on the message, it included their pictures, a note that they had voted and a link allowing the next-in-line to find a nearby polling place.