Like a Candidate Application Released on Facebook Platform

ARLINGTON, VA, May 5, 2008 – Like a Candidate, an application built on the Facebook® platform helps individuals make an informed decision in the upcoming 2008 presidential election, opened for public use on 5 May 2008. The application was created following a realization that there was a need to clarify politics in an engaging, social ecosystem. There were, and still are, numerous political matching quizzes, applications and services. Some of these services are managed by private interests to meet their own requirements, while others contain an outdated subset of candidates or have significant limitations in regards to functionality and usage. None are simultaneously comprehensive, provide evidence on candidate positions, assist with understanding alignment or swing scores, and have distribution through the social graph. The Like a Candidate team set out to implement an application that meets all those requirements.

The Like a Candidate application has been successful in fulfilling its original objectives. The application concentrated at first on establishing a solid development team, on creating the technical infrastructure to integrate with and establishing core functionality. These goals have been met, and the team is now planning its next stage of growth and enhancements. After a significant period of development and testing, Like a Candidate is now open for public use and adoption. “We hope that Like a Candidate will provide people with more conviction in voting for the candidate that best represents their own personal politics.” says Chris Newby, one of the project leaders.

In its initial release phase, the Like a Candidate application has been specifically deployed as a application that allows users to determine which candidate they are most like and to be able to compare to their friends. Like a Candidate's main goal is to be complete and to be without bias. Many voters feel overwhelmed by the election process due to the tremendous amount of information coming from so many different sources. Like a Candidate has the potential to serve as one-stop shopping for all political needs for the upcoming presidential election. “We know that one of the biggest issues voters face is information overload.” says Newby. “We believe that Like a Candidate will enable voters to sift through the hype and take them directly to specific candidate information.”

Like a Candidate is relatively new in the arena of political applications but the core team has extensive experience and a wide variety of technical, social, and political backgrounds. It was first conceived in mid 2007, and the team has already put in place much of the organization, technology, and processes needed to meet its initial goals. Continuing to build on a solid foundation, however, will allow Like a Candidate to implement substantial enhancements and additional functionality allowing the application to become more central to organizing and distributing political information through the social graph. The upcoming year promises not just incremental improvements to Like a Candidate, but also continued innovation as the project builds partnerships and seeks funding from aligned organizations. "Like a Candidate has created an engine that can be used to help voters find their match in any election." says Jake Kouns, one of the project leaders. "We are very excited about the initial release and the future opportunities." Facebook is the sixth-most trafficked website in the United States.

Like a Candidate can be found at http://www.likeacandidate.com

Press Contact:

Like a Candidate
1021 Arlington Blvd, Suite 718
Arlington, VA 22209

Chris Newby
+1.703.371.7134
Email: cnewby@likeacandidate.com

Jake Kouns
+1.804.306.8412
Email: jkouns@likeacandidate.com

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