Facebook is testing events integration into Stories. — AFP Relaxnews
As reported by TechCrunch this weekend, Facebook will begin rolling out a "Community Actions" feature on the platform on Jan 21 that will bring petitions straight to your newsfeed.
Starting Jan 21 Facebook is rolling out a new feature called Community Actions, allowing US users to post and sign online petitions via their newsfeeds.
According to TechCrunch, the company has been testing the feature for several weeks in limited markets without any significant troubles surfacing.
After adding a title, description, and image, users can complete the petition by "tag[ging] relevant government agencies and officials who'll be notified." When the petition appears in another Facebooker's newsfeed, all they have to do is tap the "Support" button if they want to stand behind the cause.
Each Community Action will have its own discussion feed where comments can be made, and further action can be taken. Likewise, you'll be able to see how many supporters are behind the cause, and which friends and public figures tapped that "Support" button.
While anyone can make any petition they like, "Facebook is purposefully trying to focus Community Actions to be more narrowly concentrated on spurring government action than just any random cause". In fact, a spokesperson speaking to TechCrunch said that, "Building informed and civically engaged communities is at the core of Facebook's mission."
Facebook will provide "constituent" badges for worthy petitions so that officials can easily reference the higher stake and more relevant requests. For this reason, the company is not allowing President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence to be tagged in such posts.
Without a doubt, such an addition will require extreme supervision by Facebook to ensure that petitions don't become too out of control with dangerous or manipulative behaviours. On the other hand, this is a simple and easy way to encourage members of a community to become more involved in local social change.
While a petition made on a social media platform cannot precisely represent a supporting group's size, it could definitely provide government officials with easier access to their community's wants, needs, and opinions. – AFP Relaxnews
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