Facebook itself certainly got the message. Under the direction of Katie Harbath, who heads the site’s public policy division, the company has begun a massive campaign to let the world know about its many uses as a platform for political action. In the spring, India held the largest democratic election in human history, and more than 4 million people out of half a billion voters used Facebook’s “I’m a voter” button. Indian Facebook users—there are more than 100 million in total—not only encouraged their peers to vote but also participated in polls and followed a feature tracking the site’s mentions of different candidates in real time. By the end of the election, Narendra Modi, who was chosen as prime minister, had more than 14 million “fans,” making him Facebook’s second most popular politician after Barack Obama.
Source: James Fowler, Katie Harbath & Cameron Marlow – POLITICO 50: Ideas changing politics and the people behind them
