Facebook launches ‘Townhall’ to get in touch with lawmakers

March 28, 2017 04:07 pm | Updated 04:26 pm IST - New York

Facebook has launched a new tool ‘Town Hall,’ which helps people in the US to contact their elected representatives and follow them via the popular social media platform.

“Town Hall, allows you to find out who your local, state and federal representatives are. You can get to it by visiting facebook.com/townhall; by looking under the “Explore” section of your news feed on desktop; or by looking in the menu of your Facebook app on your phone,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

“We just launched Town Hall, a tool to help you find and contact your elected representatives on Facebook. We’re starting to roll this out in the US,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

“Building a civically-engaged community means building new tools to help people engage in a thoughtful and informed way. The starting point is knowing who represents you and how you can make your voice heard on the decisions that affect your life,” he wrote.

“The more you engage with the political process, the more you can ensure it reflects your values. This is an important part of feeling connected to your community and your democracy, and it’s something we’re increasingly focused on at Facebook,” Mr. Zuckerburg said.

The ability to reach out to your political representatives will also be integrated into the news feed, according to Facebook, The Washington Post reported.

When you like or comment on a post that’s been published by an elected official you follow, you’ll have the option to contact that representative directly. Then, you’ll be prompted to tell other people who also follow that official that you’ve done so, the report said.

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