Hi-tech company Facebook released on Tuesday a new feature in which its users can endorse the U.S. presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Also, it allows users to endorse third-party candidates such as Gary Johnson or Jill Stein.
Hillary Clinton Or Donald Trump?
According to CNET, Facebook's endorsement feature asks users to chose their favorite American candidate by clicking the endorsement button. The feature also allows them to decide whom they want to tell about their political choice. A rather annoying fact about this bizarre new feature, however, is that users also have to add a few words explaining their decision.
However, the strangest detail about Facebook´s new option is that if users make that endorsement public, the candidate in question can use it on his or her own page. This means that the politician´s use of its voters is going to be more intense than ever, and that users' arguments might be watched by millions, regardless if it was well written or not.
Consequences Of Facebook´s Endorsement Feature
Although this might be seen as something that could end in an uncomfortable situation, such as being bullied by many people if users make a mistake or if they support the opposite candidate, the flip side is that users can also watch if some of their friends endorsed a candidate and see their arguments. According to many specialists, people have to be aware of the consequences of using this new feature.
"Anyone that is going to endorse knows that they're probably going to end up with an argument with someone on the other side of the political spectrum, but I think that's not necessarily a bad thing.It does ask people to say why they believe this candidate is the best one for them. That might actually start some useful conversation. I do think its better than just those graphical overlays that we saw on avatars," Curtain University senior lecturer in internet studies Tamar Leaver told to ABC.
In addition to the fact-check feature released by Google, the Facebook´s endorsement option might also determine the U.S. presidential elections, with the difference that users will be the one to decide if this feature will be successful or not.
