Facebook would like you to endorse political candidates
Just be prepared for a possible backlash in your social feed.
You don't have to run a big media outlet to endorse a candidate this presidential election... or other elections, for that matter. Facebook has introduced an endorsement feature that lets you back a political candidate beyond tapping a "like" button, letting others know where you stand. Mercifully, though, you won't have to endure the wrath of less-than-sympathetic friends if you don't want to. While you can certainly make a public endorsement if you want to share your views with the world, you can limit the audience so that only your more open-minded (or like-minded) friends will see it.
You'll also notice an "issues" tab that includes quotes and video clips explaining a candidate's policies. If you want to know where Hillary Clinton stands on energy or what Donald Trump thinks about taxes, you don't have to wade through the candidates' external pages.
The endorsement option may seem a bit superfluous at first, but Facebook has a few good reasons to roll it out. For one, it gets people talking -- you may wonder why that buddy from high school is backing someone you didn't expect. The effort also gives both politicians and Facebook an easy way to quantify the most ardent supporters, those people who aren't afraid to wear their affiliations on their sleeves. Given that Facebook is already having a significant effect on the US election, we wouldn't be surprised if this new data gets put to use before long.
