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"Facebook and ABC announced their plans to join up for a few reasons; one being the potential for ABC to get more involved in social media, and the other being the potential for social networkers to get more involved in the news realm.  With Facebook and ABC co-sponsoring the presidential debate that will take place on Jan. 5 in New Hampshire, each sponsor has its part.  ABC will moderate and provide coverage, while Facebook will lend a social media outlet for conversations to take place around the debate prior to, during and after the debates actually take place.  \nThe debates will cover both Democrats and Republicans, but the criteria for participation is far more exclusive.  According to CNet, only those that \"(a) place in the top four positions in the Iowa caucuses, (b) obtain 5 percent or higher in recent national polls, or (c) obtain 5 percent or higher in recent state polls\" will be allowed to participate in the debate.  Is this cause for controversy?\nThere are a couple of things to look at here, the first of which begs the question, why?  Why is ABC being so selective about those that can participate in the upcoming debate?  Given the debates that others have held, this one seems to just ask for trouble.  And while YouTube was among the first social media outlets to take advantage of the presidential debates, its partnership with CNN wasn't limited to particular candidates based on a popularity contest.\nLet's look at ABC for a moment.  If you were a television producer, when would be the best time to host a presidential debate, knowing that other networks have pretty much exhausted the topic?  Right after the Iowa Caucus, and just before the primaries.  New Hampshire is really a last ditch effort for all the candidates to try and garner up any last minute support before the candidates are whittled down to the few that will make it down the last leg of the presidential race, but the New Hampshire debates in particular are taking an especially selective approach.  Only those that do well in the bellwether Iowa Caucus will go on to the debates.  ABC is fully taking advantage of this 'sweet spot' for milking all it can out of the New Hampshire debates, and Facebook just might get to ride the coattails on this one.\nSo will Facebook be facing any of the backlash as a result?  While ABC and Facebook aren't handpicking the candidates that can participate in the debates, it does give cause for an unnecessarily selective attitude towards the debate process.  The situation as a whole merely supports the growing concern that sponsored debates have become far too theatrical, and it would be a shame for social media outlets like Facebook to get caught up in any resulting resentment therein.  \nWhat I'm equally concerned about, however, is the effect this will have on ABC's hopes to become more involved with social media, primarily Facebook.  Just one week after instituting its new application, ABC bombed its own popularity contest within the Facebook network, indicating that it needs to shift its strategy for getting users involved with political news, or it needs to just give it up completely.  The debates and their surrounding controversy just might push ABC's partnership with Facebook in one direction or another."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2008/01/03/facebook-abc-debates-controversy/>