Facebook Rolls Out New Features To Help US Users Connect With Elected Officials

Facebook announced three new features Wednesday aimed at boosting civic engagement in the U.S., allowing users to better connect with elected officials, candidates and staff.

The new offerings help users sort through a mountain of content on the social network and help politicians find comments and news stories that connect directly to their home districts.

First, Facebook users will have a new feature – “Constituent Badges” – that identify themselves as part of a representative’s district by securely entering a home address.

“Constituent Insights” is another feature that allows a politician to track news stories and other viral content popular with users in their district.

“District Targeting” can allow an elected official to change page settings to allow them to broadcast Facebook Live feeds and other messages only to individuals residing in their districts.

The new features come as the social media giant seeks to make over its image as a credible source of information after November’s presidential election, when the company struggled to effectively combat a flood of fake news – either misleading or entirely fabricated political stories.