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CNN, Facebook team up for Presidential polls
MUMBAI: American new broadcaster CNN has teamed up with social networking platform Facebook for the 2012 US Presidential to offer an interactive and uniquely social experience for CNN’s on-air, mobile and online audiences and Facebook’s millions of users.
In this partnership, Facebook and CNN are teaming up to take the pulse of the American electorate and amplify the voices of the social site’s users as they share their thoughts and feelings on candidates and critical issues facing the country ahead of Election Day on 6 November this year.
This innovative multi-platform partnership will include “I‘m Voting” Facebook App an interactive application which will enable people who use Facebook to commit to voting and endorse specific candidates and issues. Commitments to vote will be displayed on people’s Facebook timeline, news feed, and real-time ticker.
The app which will be available in English and Spanish, will enable people to share their commitment to vote and support of particular issues or candidates with friends and will provide a way to see how many of their own friends they’ve enlisted to support those issues or candidates. These commitments will be visually displayed by U.S. state on an interactive map.
The app will serve as a “second screen” for CNN‘s America’s Choice 2012 political coverage. Via on-air, online and mobile segments, CNN personalities will use the app to ask Facebook users the most important questions driving the national dialogue and report on their answers.
“We fundamentally changed the way people consume live event coverage online, setting a record for the most-watched live video event in Internet history, when we teamed up with Facebook for the 2009 Inauguration of President Obama,” said CNN Digital SVP KC Estenson.
Facebook and CNN will measure metrics about President Obama, Vice President Biden, Mitt Romney, and the Republican vice presidential candidate as soon as the running mate has been named. As the campaigns progress, Facebook will report the aggregate amount of discussions surrounding each candidate and CNN will drill down on specific state-by-state analysis.
The two will also survey voting-age users in key U.S. locations and demographics around the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, Presidential Debates, Election Day and other significant dates on the political calendar.
CNN’s editorial department will work with Facebook’s research team to write the questions and publish the results on CNN, CNN.com, and on the US Politics on Facebook page, Facebook’s hub for campaign 2012 information.
“Each campaign cycle brings new technologies that enhance the way that important connections between citizens and their elected representatives are made. Though the mediums have changed, the critical linkages between candidates and voters remain,” said Facebook Vice President-U.S. Public Policy Joel Kaplan.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
