Evening meal, by Sandra Abrams

Recently, reports have surfaced that Steve Jobs of Apple and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook had dinner to discuss ping. I’m sure their conversation was more interesting than my dinner in front of the computer digesting my evening meal and Politico’s Facebook pages. In the end, I got indigestion. It appears that Politico has NOT taken full advantage of Facebook and all it has to offer. I was surprised and disappointed that such a savvy news organization has not utilize this tool.

I first started out by doing a Google search for Politico’s Facebook page. At the top of the search was Politico, the Official Group ( group.php?gid=6977265898). But upon closer examination, I was sure this was not the official page. The logo was a cartoon and the postings were full of diet ads and get-rich-quick schemes. Definitely not official.

Then I went to Politico’s website and at the bottom of my screen was a pop up bar that said to become a member of Politico’s Facebook, click here. So I did. I found the correct page (politico)and herein is what I found.

The newsfeed listed a story about House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and her last major speech with familiar themes. The story sat on its Facebook page for two hours before another story appeared. It gathered 38 comments. Not a great headline. Later in the day on Monday, the headlines got better. A sampling: “Republicans put 99 Democratic held seats in danger.” Good one because many political pundits are saying Republicans will likely win 50 to 60 seats in the House. The eye-popping number stands out.

Republicans put 99 Democrat-held House seats in danger

(Shown, from left) Bobby Bright, Alan Grayson, Betsy Markey, and Frank Kratovil, Jr. | AP Photos

Another one was, “Alexi Giannoulias to Mark Kirk: ‘Were you shot at?’, ” again I clicked. One more: “Christine O’Donnell questions separation of church, state.” But a huge missed opportunity to engage Politico fans. Where was a quiz question on the Constitution or a poll on House seats up for grabs?

Next, I clicked on Politico’s Click Facebook page. There is no link from one to the other on the front. The following news on Click: Fashion, whistleblowers and peace, posted 8 hours ago; Jill Biden opens up about service in Self Magazine, posted 8 hours ago; Bob Schieffer gets roasted, posted 8 hours ago. You get the picture, dumping news into the site. While, the information was good, I wonder how fresh it was. Another missed opportunity.

My next move was to find the Facebook page of the various reporters such as Mike Allen and others. I could not find individual Facebook fan pages for Politico’s reporters. No links to a personalized reading list. Also, no quizzes, no feedback, no questions like Nicholas Kristof’s Facebook. Clearly, the fans of Politico want to engage in political discourse, but there is a lack of engagement.

There was also no photos of the different reporters on Facebook. The photo section did have drawings from its cartoonist, Matt Wuerker.

Why not let people vote on best cartoon of the week? 

I thought by going to Politico’s Facebook page, I would get a tasty morsel about politics but it was just your basic hamburger on the information turnpike.