Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

General Election 2015: Facebook to remind all users to vote

This year, voters are able to register to vote online for the first time

Andrew Griffin
Wednesday 04 February 2015 15:03 GMT
Comments
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook and the Electoral Commission will show a message to all adult users in the UK reminding them to vote in May’s General Election.

All users of voting age will see a message at the top of their newsfeeds on Thursday, which is National Voter Registration Day.

The link will direct them to register themselves to vote through the Gov.uk portal. The 2015 election is the first time that voters are able to register online to vote.

But most young people don’t know that they can register online, according to YouGov research. Among 18-24 year olds, 53% are unaware of the change, compared to 35% of 25-39 year olds and 43% of people older than 60.

As well as the reminder at the top of news feeds, users will be able to add an event to their profile that will tell their friends that they have registered to vote.

Facebook cited a study of the 2010 elections which showed that over 300,000 people voted after seeing their friends discuss doing so on Facebook.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in