Mark Pack

Interesting news from the New York Times on Mike Bloomberg’s use of Facebook Connect:

Supporters can join the mayor’s social network “Mike Bloomberg NYC Community” with their Facebook user name and password and choose to broadcast their activities there back to their friends on the social network.

Mr. Bloomberg, who is running for a third term as New York City mayor, is not the first politician to link his campaign site to Facebook. Last year, the Obama campaign added Facebook Connect to its social network, MyBarackObama.com, in the final weeks of the presidential campaign.

Facebook Connect could ultimately give political campaigns more viral exposure for their online efforts. Campaign supporters who join Mr. Bloomberg’s social network can easily invite their friends to join them in various online activities; if they sign up to attend a political event, that gets transferred back to Facebook too. Users are presented with options to withhold any and all of this information from Facebook if they wish.