Even the President of the United States wants to be YouTube famous.
An article posted Thursday on mashable.com stated that President Obama recently met with young celebrities in a kind of "who's who" of YouTube to discuss the current cultural issues that are plaguing our country. President Obama met with 15 of the creators of some of YouTube's most popular channels for about 45 minutes to discuss such weighty issues as health care, anti-bullying, and economic opportunities: and then the YouTubers created and uploaded videos about their experiences. Estimated to collectively have at least 35 million subscribers between the channels, that's a lot of lives reached by a fairly simple experiment.
It's certainly a good idea for the President to reach out to the public - particularly the younger demographic, which YouTube specifically targets (defined in the article as ages 18-34). These are just the kinds of videos that I find myself watching on a day-to-day basis. It's definitely interesting that the President is choosing the middle of his second term as a starting point for what could have previously been a spectacular campaign tactic for young people; however, if the President wants to start publicly discussing the issues with America's youth, there is no better (or more trafficked) website than YouTube.
This makes me wonder about the future of our Presidential campaigns and what it will mean for our youth. Will YouTube soon be inundated with 2016 Presidential candidates vying for our attention with popular YouTube celebrities? Having political figures featured on young influential YouTube channels could certainly be a game changer for those of us now old enough to vote in the elections. I'm not sure how I feel about having someone whose opinion I value on cultural topics as a sponsored spokesperson for a political candidate.
An article posted Thursday on mashable.com stated that President Obama recently met with young celebrities in a kind of "who's who" of YouTube to discuss the current cultural issues that are plaguing our country. President Obama met with 15 of the creators of some of YouTube's most popular channels for about 45 minutes to discuss such weighty issues as health care, anti-bullying, and economic opportunities: and then the YouTubers created and uploaded videos about their experiences. Estimated to collectively have at least 35 million subscribers between the channels, that's a lot of lives reached by a fairly simple experiment.
It's certainly a good idea for the President to reach out to the public - particularly the younger demographic, which YouTube specifically targets (defined in the article as ages 18-34). These are just the kinds of videos that I find myself watching on a day-to-day basis. It's definitely interesting that the President is choosing the middle of his second term as a starting point for what could have previously been a spectacular campaign tactic for young people; however, if the President wants to start publicly discussing the issues with America's youth, there is no better (or more trafficked) website than YouTube.
This makes me wonder about the future of our Presidential campaigns and what it will mean for our youth. Will YouTube soon be inundated with 2016 Presidential candidates vying for our attention with popular YouTube celebrities? Having political figures featured on young influential YouTube channels could certainly be a game changer for those of us now old enough to vote in the elections. I'm not sure how I feel about having someone whose opinion I value on cultural topics as a sponsored spokesperson for a political candidate.
It looks like our president is following in the footsteps of Kid President (http://kidpresident.com/). This could have been a very useful tactic while running for office, but I believe he was already highly favored by the youth of America regardless. I don't understand why this wasn't used in previous years because social media is such a huge outlet, not only for the youth.
ReplyDeleteHe also appeared on Between Two Ferns, a show by Zach Galifianakis. He "plugs" the federal government's healthcare website right before Zach asks, "What country were you rooting for in the winter olympics?"
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAFkauscKJ0
I think it's great. The president has become more accessible, more relatable to young adults by using social mediums in this way. The audience that is watching is exactly the audience his looking to get information to regarding the affordable health act.