Why Government Representative In Africa Might Panic After The Introduction Of New Facebook Feature

Facebook wants you to talk directly to your government representative.That might be a good thing to the citizens but maybe not to the law makers, especially in Africa.Facebook is currently rolling out a brand new feature called “Town Hall” with the intent of letting its users connect with their representatives.The feature can be found in the “More” menu in Facebook’s mobile app and could prove to be a really convenient way of connecting with government representatives and ask burning questions or find out what they have working on."Town Hall is part of our ongoing work to support civic engagement on Election Day and every day," Facebook said in a statement. "It is a dedicated space for people who want to learn about and participate in the political process."Town Hall is greatly associated with administration. The new service will enable you to talk directly to your representatives via phone, email or their personal pages.The new feature will also note how many of your friends have connected with their representatives on Facebook.In Africa, there has always been a huge communication barrier between government representatives and the people who voted them in. Once in government, officials tend to isolate themselves making it almost impossible to reach.While social media has really improved the situation, it’s still hard to tell how effective the new service will be.