News Summary: Facebook friends get out the vote

September 12, 2012 | Modified: September 12, 2012 at 8:04 pm
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FILE - This May 3, 2010 file photo shows a "vote here" sign near a polling place open for early voting in downtown Little Rock, Ark. Here's something most politicians can click the like button for: Facebook friends played a big role in getting hundreds of thousands of people to vote in 2010 who probably would have otherwise stayed home, a new scientific study claims. It provides scientific evidence showing the real world political power of social media. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File)

INFLUENCE: A study finds that Facebook friends played a big role in getting hundreds of thousands of people to vote in 2010.

HOW IT WAS DONE: Facebook researchers and scientists at the University of California, San Diego conducted a massive online experiment in the mid-term congressional election to test and measure the political power of online peer pressure.

THE FINDINGS: People who got Facebook messages that their friends had voted were a bit more likely to go to the polls than those who didn't get the same reminder.