I have just been told about an application which allows Facebook users to get news from the Labour Party and which links up with Labour’s online members’ area, MembersNet, to show events that are taking place near them. It seems a very clever way to promote Labour via the standard Facebook viral channel i.e. User A downloads, Friend A sees application on User A’s profile, downloads, Friend B (who does not know User A) sees it etc; but I especially like the event locator function. It’s a simple way to use an online tool to actively encourage offline grassroots activity, which as we’ve seen in the US is really taking off and has arguably influenced the outcome of the Democratic nomination campaign so far.

Unfortunately the application apparently only has one user and I could not actually get it to work, but I’m sure it’s just a short-term glitch!