Everybody's Doin' It! Social Media 'Flair' and Participation Tracking for Today's Midterm Election

The "everybody's doin' it!" mentality doesn't have to mean your friends inspire you to just do drugs or jump off a bridge, like mama always warned you. Today, if you are a Facebook or Foursquare user, you might notice friends sporting some Midterm Election flair in the form of badges and buttons that are like a virtual version of that little sticker they hand you at the polling place.

If you want to be the influencer, it's easy. On Facebook today, the top portion of your news feed has an "I Voted" box, with a running tally of how many Facebook-ers have logged in their vote, and, specifically, which of your friends have already stepped into the ballot box or mailed in their absentee ballot.

On Foursquare, when you check in to your polling place and/or shout "I Voted" (#ivoted) you'll get the corresponding "I Voted" badge. Foursquare is also logging in how many people vote, and where, and have created a graphic map of the states to chart participation and list polling places.