FaceBook - Politicians Pay Price of Entry

Via Political Wire I find this Time Magazine blurb about FaceBook:

In the '90s, the message was "Rock the Vote." Now it's time to "Facebook" it. Starting in September, politicians will be able to buy profiles on networking site Facebook.com accessible to its 8 million members. That should help pols court a group of voters who are hard to reach. Facebookers will be able to "friend" any candidate they like--linking to a profile as they would a classmate's. Facebook says politicians won't pay anything near the tens of thousands of dollars that corporate advertisers do to set up on the site. Politicians should log on, says Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos politiblog, because young people "hang out in places like ... Facebook and MySpace," which plans a similar initiative. They're the new town square--great for any candidate who can figure out the online equivalent of a handshake.

This is a good thing. I'm sure there are positive effects of closing off some of these communities - limiting entry to those from select colleges makes FaceBook more intimate (and in some respects trustworthy). But I've been wondering - especially in light of all the talk about regulating access to online communities (the pedophile argument) - how (and if) politicians and well-meaning non profits will be able to gain access to the younger audiences who are a part of social networking communities.

The one potential downside I can see to FaceBook's anouncement is pricing. Despite their claim that politicians won't need to pay exorbitant sums, it may be that nonprofits with small budgets, or local candidates, will still be shut out due to the price of entry. That is, if non profits can get access at all. It's not clear if they can or will be let in on this deal at any point in the future.

But on the face of it, I like this. If I was a member/user of FaceBook, my main worry would be that this would clog the community with bad political spam. But most politicians won't take advantage of this opportunity, and an even greater amount won't do it right. And the whole point of these social networking sites is that you can choose who is in your network. So I don't see this as a huge problem. And anything that can get politicians and younger voters interact with each other outside conventional political vehicles is a good thing. More on this later.