Meg Whitman

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State

July 27, 2010 | 5:58 pm

Facebook users have seen ads soliciting thoughts on everything from their favorite vacation spot to the best engagement ring.

Now Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman is using so-called polling ads to determine what Facebook users see as the most important issue facing California, hoping to boost her online network in the process.

The ad, dubbed “A New California,” goes live at 9 p.m. tonight and is the latest in the Whitman campaign’s effort to maximize the cascading effect of the social networking site. It will appear on the home page of voting-age Californians, asking them to vote for one of three issues: “creating jobs,” “cutting state spending” or “fixing education.” A notice will then appear in a user’s “news feed,” saying that the user is a “friend” of the poll, and encouraging the user to become a Whitman “fan.”

After about a week of voting, Whitman will address the winning issue in a Facebook video. Whitman’s campaign refused to say how much they were spending on the ad.

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