You might think it’s just a decorative gimmick — a cute electronic version of the “I Voted” sticker you get upon exiting the polling station. And Facebook says it’s just doing its civic duty by encouraging its users to vote.

But there’s a lot more to it than that, as Mother Jones reported last Friday. For the last few elections, Facebook has been running a series of quiet, but massive, experiments on you to see if it can make you more likely to vote. And it looks like their encouragements are working.

The Facebook “I Voted” sticker might be boosting voter turnout

Voter turnout in midterm elections, like this year’s, is typically a lot lower than turnout in presidential elections. But the 2010 midterm elections saw many more voters than had shown up for the previous midterms, in 2006. According to a study done by Facebook scientists and published in Nature, that “I Voted” sticker on Facebook could be part of the reason.

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STORY: http://www.vox.com/2014/11/4/7154641/midterm-elections-2014-voted-facebook-friends-vote-polls