ABC News and Facebook have teamed together to create an interactive political forum on a social networking site during the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign. (File Photo)

BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- ABC News and Facebook have teamed together to create an interactive political forum on a social networking site during the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, both companies announced Monday.

An application called "U.S. Politics" -- built by combining Facebook technology with ABC's coverage -- will give Facebook users new ways to learn about and discuss the upcoming primary and national elections, the two companies said.

"The goal is to extend the debate from being a one-hour session that happens on television to a dialogue that can take place before, after, and now during the debate between voters," Dan Rose, Facebook's vice president of business development, told ABC News.com.

The ABC News reporters embedded with the campaign of the various candidates will post blogs, photographs and news articles directly onto Facebook. A section of the application called "Debate Groups" will allow Facebook members to post and share thoughts about the campaign.

The collaboration will be in play for the Jan. 5 debates being sponsored by ABC and WMUR at St. Anselm College in Manchester.

The initiative is not the first attempt to bring politics to the Web 2.0 arena. In July, YouTube and CNN hosted a Democratic debate where presidential candidates fielded questions submitted by YouTube users. On Wednesday, CNN will broadcast a similar debate for Republican candidates.

(Agencies)