Since Franklin D. Roosevelt, it has been tradition for every U.S. President to hold a weekly address on the state of the nation. But while these have always been broadcast on radio, President Obama is bringing the fireside chats bang up to date and using YouTube as well.
Yes We Can – By Using The Internet
A lot has already been made of the importance of the Internet in helping Barack Obama become the 44th President of The United States of America, and YouTube was a huge part of that.
Obama’s campaign team uploaded more than 1800 videos to YouTube during the two year election run-in, which garnered over 110 million page views. That’s a big enough audience to have a big impact on an election, and that’s likely what happened.
And now Obama is President-elect, he hasn’t just dropped these new forms of communication, and is instead utilizing them to bring the White House administration bang up to date, and YouTube looks like being a big part of that.
Weekly Fireside Chats
The President’s weekly ‘fireside chats’ are a tradition dating back to the 1930s when Roosevelt tried to connect with the people and inform them of the latest news on the crumbling economy. Sound familiar?
These weekly addresses have always been broadcast on the radio but will now also be filmed and uploaded to YouTube as well. In addition, other administration officials will also be posting videos on regular occasions, and there will even be video interviews and Q&A sessions with important members of the new government.
President Obama’s First Weekly Address
This is a masterstroke on Obama’s side for many reasons. It is also a coup for YouTube, which will gain millions of viewers and become synonymous with the President.
Benefits Galore
For Obama, this shows him reaching out to the people, keeping them up to date with the latest happening in government. And by using Web video it will likely be seen by many more people than the radio exclusive addresses of past presidents.
This also shows how willing Obama is to embrace new technology, giving him the look and feel of a modern, young President who actually keeps an eye on what is current and new. Gone is the fuddy-duddy image of Bush and co.
And as Iman points out on WebTVHub, this also prevents any misquoting of Obama’s weekly addresses, as while news organizations are still likely to cut Obama’s words to pieces, a quick search on YouTube will allow anyone to hear exactly what was said in the correct context.
Conclusions
Obama’s first weekly address (as embedded above) is now available to watch on the ChangeDotGov YouTube channel and has already been seen by over 650,000 people, and that’s before the man even becomes President.
Obama has captured not only America, but also the world’s attention like no President in my lifetime. Hell, I’m a Brit and even I’m interested in his policies. A huge reason for this is how he and his team have reached out via the Internet, and Web video is a big part of this new policy.
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