Last month, Facebook (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg published a 6,000-word manifesto in which he posited Facebook’s new role in addressing some of humanity’s biggest problems. “Our next focus will be developing the social infrastructure for community—for supporting us, for keeping us safe, for informing us, for civic engagement, and for inclusion of all,” Zuckerberg wrote in February.
On Monday, Facebook users in the U.S. Were given an inkling of what that might mean.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook has launched a U.S. Service called Town Hall: a nonpartisan civic engagement tool that informs users who their local elected officials are and offers advice on how to get in touch. Following the success of Facebook’s first major voter registration drive, the tool also nudges users to vote.
For more on Facebook and politics watch Coins2Day’s video:
Facebook has a spotty record with civic engagement: from the perennial charge that social media activism has become a blunt proxy for IRL activism, to the late acknowledgement that its News Feed had helped spread fake news during the U.S. Election cycle. Although Town Hall does not address fake news, it might go some way to addressing the former concern. The Journal reports that based on a user’s location, Town Hall will present often tricky-to-find information on at least some of their local political representatives and allows users to follow their Facebook activity. The tool also reportedly encourages users to pick up the phone and call politicians, or write them a letter.