Facebook wants your elected officials to know what news stories you’re reading.
The social network rolled out a series of updates Wednesday aimed at better acquainting people with their representatives and vice versa. Among the new features is something called “insights,” that shows elected officials what news stories are popular among his or her constituents.
The goal is to help officials understand what issues are important to their voters.
Members of the public will also be able to see what stories are trending within their own district. Facebook says the “community” tab on elected officials’ pages will display a scrolling list of what stories are trending under the headline “Popular in [elected official’s name] district.”
Facebook also said Wednesday that it’s launched a new “constituent badge” feature. If a user turns on the feature, a small badge will appear next to their posts on pages that belong to their local, state or federal representatives. The idea is to make it easy for elected officials to identify what posts are coming from voters in their districts.
Users can turn on the badge feature here.
“Our goal is to help people build the communities they want by making it easier for them to engage and have a voice in government — on a daily basis, not just Election Day,” a Facebook spokesperson said.
It’s not the first political update the social media network has rolled out since the 2016 election. It recently unveiled a “Town Hall” feature that allows users to quickly identify — and follow — their elected representatives. It can also notify users when a local election is taking place.
