If there’s one job that’s been tweaked time and again by new technologies, it’s the President of the United States. Now, the Obama Administration takes the townhall model of interacting with the public to Twitter with the first ever Twitter @Townhall. While the actual White House uses lots of archaic tech, past administrations have embraced communication technology wholeheartedly – and not always for the better.
FDR’s famous Fireside Chats used radio to successfully make the President seem like a man of the people. However, the famous 1960 televised debate between Nixon and JFK, the first of its kind, left a sweaty Richard Nixon blown away by a cool and coiffed Kennedy. Some historians have put forth that the actual content of the debate was secondary to the appearances.
Regardless of one’s political leanings, President Obama’s dip in to the social network pool is pretty neat. I particularly like the way they included their other Twitter accounts at the end of the article.
On a more cynical note, the “Tweetup” is heavily modified and required pre-registration (now closed) so it’s not exactly totally open two-way communications. Heck, unlike a real townhall-style meeting you’ve no way of knowing if the actual President is the person answering the account.
In terms of embracing tech, this is worth noting.
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