Inside Facebook

Grassroots Enterprises, a communications technology firm based in Washington, DC, has developed a new application for Facebook Pages that allows fans to send letters to legislators. The “Take Action” app can be set to send communications to political officials, news agencies, or special commissions.

After using the “Take Action” feature to send a letter, users then have the option of forwarding their action to friends to display in their feeds. Once individuals find an organization they wish to support, they can contact their local or federal official without ever having to leave Facebook. When applicable, Take Action matches users to their respective local officials based on their profile information.

Organizations will be able to link to their Take Action page through a unique URL for placement in news releases, blogs, or associated sites. Once users take advantage of the service, page owners will be able to capture their registration information for future email campaigns and associated political actions.

The app is another example of how marketers are using Facebook Pages to recruit people to become more active in the causes they support. By taking out the extra steps associated with contacting a state or federal legislator, Take Action is promoting more interaction between Fans and Facebook pages.

So far, early adopters of the service are seeing positive reaction from their fans. Two pages currently using Take Action, a page promoting a seventh NHL team for Canada and a page petitioning for the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme court, are seeing conversion rates between 35-45%.