New President for a New Generation
November 17, 2008
by Anna Lafferre
Last week President-elect Barack Obama announced he would be using online video as a platform for his weekly addresses to the nation. At first I thought he would use his own websites www.change.gov or www.whitehouse.gov, to share the videos; however I learned that Obama has decided to use YouTube as the official distributor of his weekly address. His reason in choosing YouTube was to make government more transparent and to modernize.
As a 24-year-old member of Generation Y, I have to hand it to Obama – this is smart. While many people my age are at least aware of www.whitehouse.gov (I hope!) it’s much more likely they’re spending their time on YouTube instead. Even if they don’t go to YouTube to purposefully listen to the President, chances are, they’re going to happen upon it, and, like it or not, learn something about the state of the union.