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20th Jan 2016

Facebook Will Have a Very Important Message for Irish Users Today

The bulletin will appear on every Irish users timeline.

Cassie Delaney

Facebook are turning their hand had to political savviness by launching a campaign to remind Irish users to vote. 

Every Irish person over the age of 18 will get a registration reminder today to “check the register”. The bulletin will link to checktheregister.ie where people are encouraged to begin the process of joining the register.

Facebook hope that the alerts will increase the number of voters available to participate in the upcoming general election.

According to The Mirror, Facebook has a registered Irish database of 2.5 million people, more than the 2.2 million who voted in 2011’s General Election.

Facebook’s Politics & Government Specialist for the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region Elizabeth Linder said: “With 2.5 million people in Ireland using Facebook – more than the number of people who voted in the last Irish General Election – it is a natural place for politicians to have conversations with voters.

“Since the last election in 2011, Irish politicians and political parties have become increasingly more sophisticated in how they use Facebook to talk and engage with voters and supporters.

“Over the past few months, people have been taking to Facebook to share their views on who should govern the country for the next five years.

“There have already been more than 1.5 million interactions related to the Irish election on the platform since November 1st.

“We hope that initiatives like the ‘Check the Register’ notice will help encourage an even higher number of registered voters.