In a significant development, ABC News and leading social networking web site Facebook have signed a deal whereby they will offer coverage of the 2008 US presidential election to Facebook users. 

To be called U.S. Politics, the new application will also allow users to participate in a discussion forum. Moreover, Facebook members will enjoy the facility to subscribe to the summaries of ABC News reports and also exchange their opinions in the Debate Groups on the campaigns of the day.

ABC News is of the opinion that the agreement and the subsequent user discussions will have an impact on it’s reporting, and allow the television company to participate in those debates, both by providing information and by learning from the users.

With a view to promote their new venture, ABC News as well as Facebook have decided to jointly sponsor the Democratic and Republican presidential debates in New Hampshire on January 5 next year.

The moot idea of the deal is to establish a one-stop-shop for information about political personalities, from presidential hopefuls to all the way down to small-town candidates.

The new system will offer the users a platform to discuss about the candidates, where they stand on different issues, how they compare these issues to other candidates, and who are funding them.

According to many this kind of interactive political venture is mushrooming like anything as the US gears up for the 2008 Presidential election. While CNN televised a presidential debate in which the questions were asked by Web-cam-wielding YouTube members in July last, several former CNET employees, including co-founder Shelby Bonnie, launched a Wiki-powered site known as Political Base this October.

Incidentally, the deal between ABC News and Facebook involves no exchange of money between the companies. Nevertheless, both expect to benefit immensely from the agreement as Facebook will get new content for its site, and ABC will be able to present its reports before a wider audience.

Facebook claims that its website now has over 56 million active users.