Facebook has launched a new feature that enables users in the UK to compare the policies of the major political parties ahead of the general election on 8 June.  

The feature, called Perspectives, presents users with the option to compare each parties’ views on a particular issue. When a user clicks on a story about the general election in their News Feed, they are present with a prompt under the post giving them the option to gain an insight into these views.

“People have told us it is sometimes difficult to find reliable and comprehensive information about the parties’ election manifestos,” said a Facebook spokesperson. “In response, we created a space that allows each party to share explanations of their campaigns directly to people through their Facebook page. People can choose to engage with different party Pages to learn about the issues that matter to them.”

The tool, which was first introduced during the French presidential election, is activated based on the type of article clicked on and presented up to three times a day. Depending on the region a person lives in within the UK, they will be presented with that region’s political parties.

Elsewhere in social media land, the BBC has announced it will livestream five election specials on Twitter, starting with this evening’s (31 May) Election Debate at 7:30pm.

In addition, the BBC will also bring two Question Time Leaders Specials on the 2 and 4 June, The Newsbeat Youth Debate on 6 June, and the Election Night Results Special on 8 June, to the microblogging site.

During these livestreams, Twitter users will be able a ‘real-time curated timeline of tweets’ with commentary from BBC experts and BBC Reality Check.