Facebook to introduce Scottish indyref 'I'm a voter' button on referendum morning as it reaches 10m posts on the vote
Social network Facebook will introduce the ‘I’m a Voter’ button on Thursday morning (18 September) to enable Scottish independence referendum voters to declare they have had their say in their country's future.
An image of what the tool will look like upon release
The new feature will let users inform their friends and family that they have voted in the Scottish independence referendum; but it will not allow users to specify whether they voted Yes or No.
The debate has encouraged high traffic on Facebook with the site boasting over 10 million interactions including comments, posts, likes and shares over the last five weeks.
Around 85 per cent of the content originated in Scotland, a figure accounting for around double the 4.3 million registered electorate - or 275,000 interactions daily.
The Yes campaign had 2.05 million interactions whereas the No campaign racked up 1.96 million over the same five week period, a lead which reportedly materialised in the last week of measurement.
A report on all social media conversation since 15 August from social media analytics firm Crimson Hexagon, claims that the Yes vote dominated online conversations accounting for a massive 88 per cent of discussion.
This left the No vote with a tiny 12 per cent share of the overall 19,294 posts analysed. Furthermore the hashtag ‘#VoteYes’ was used over 16,000 times during the measured period.
Elizabeth Linder, politics and government specialist for Facebook in the EMEA region, said: “In just a month we’ve seen the referendum debate come to life on Facebook, with over 10 million posts, comments and likes relating to the debate.
“Studies show that when people see their Facebook friends talking about voting, they are more likely to vote themselves. We hope the ‘I’m a Voter’ button will make it easy for voters to share that they are taking part in the referendum at the end of months of debate and discussion.”
This builds on the Facebook's relationship with the UK electoral commission which since 2010, has seen the social network ask users whether they are registered to vote before major elections.
A report on all social media conversation, conducted from between 15 August and this week, from social media analytics firm Crimson Hexagon, claimed that the Yes vote dominated online independence conversations, accounting for a massive 88 per cent of content.
This left the No vote with a tiny 12 per cent share of the overall 19,294 posts analysed. Furthermore the hashtag ‘#VoteYes’ was used over 16,000 times.
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