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Facebook users more likely to vote when their friends do

By WEEK Producer

Facebook users more likely to vote when their friends do

September 13, 2012 Updated Sep 13, 2012 at 10:53 AM CDT

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- A new study out of the University of California says that social media may be the best way to influence people to vote in the upcoming presidential election.

Research shows that Facebook users were more likely to look up their polling places when they saw Election Day "I voted" message on their news feeds with pictures of other Facebook users who voted.

According to the study, approximately 60,000 Facebook users showed up to vote after seeing those posts.

"Social influence made all the difference in political mobilization," said lead author of the study James Fowler in a statement. "It's not the 'I Voted' button, or the lapel sticker we've all seen, that gets out the vote. It's the person attached to it."

This study was published in the the science journal Nature.

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