[An Inside Facebook post]
The US government passed a major overhaul of national health care policies late last month, the climax of years of congressional and public debate. Facebook has been growing across the US in the meantime, reaching around 113 million users by March, or more than a third of the country. So it’s not surprise that the site has become a key way for people with feelings about the politics of health care to voice their opinions using the service.
Hundreds of official and unofficial Facebook Pages and groups figured prominently in both sides of the debate — those in favor of reform and those vehemently against it — becoming places where passionate conversations took place on Walls, in comments and visually with photos and videos. We’ve previously written about Facebook’s growing importance in electoral politics, but the health care reform process allowed us to see how politics revolving around domestic policy manifested on Facebook.
Given the years that it will take for the government to implement the full plan, as well as the ongoing opposition that the Republican Party has been putting up — and Facebook’s continued growth — we expect the service to see lots of ongoing activity by both sides…
[See the full post here]
