Facebook Feature Plagued With Outdated Headlines; GOP Ones Skew Negative

While looking at a friend's profile on Facebook today shortly after 10 a.m., I spotted her "Election '08" application which proudly lists her support for the Republican Party in 2008. Immediately below are three of the "latest politics headlines" on Newsvine.com, the Web site that created and manages the Facebook application. Yet the headlines were hardly the "latest" and had nothing to do with the 2008 race or its principals. What's more, all three headlines carried downbeat news:

• Ford Recalling 3.6 Million Vehicles
• Top Marine Sees Gear-Provision Flaws
• Hiring Cools in July; Jobless Rate Up

For contrast I looked at the profiles of some friends who also have the application. Only one Democratic friend of mine has it on his profile, and his bears support for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). In his "Election '08" box were a different set of headlines, all having something to do with Obama, although they too were old, coming from August 2 and 3.

Another friend, a Libertarian, had three ancient headlines (dated from mid-June) and none of which had anything to do with the Libertarian Party nor Ron Paul (R-Tex.), running for the GOP nomination 20 years after toeing the Libertarian Party's line in the 1988 presidential race.

Those headlines:

• Bush to Push Immigration Bill at Capitol
• Prosecutor Wants Libby Imprisoned Now
• GOP Blocks Gonzales No-Confidence Vote