7/06/2011 11:46:00 AM
live news
Obama's Twitter town hall draws thousands
U.S. President Barack Obama reacts to sending his first-ever Twitter post during a visit with Red Cross employees in Washington in January 2010. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) U.S. President Barack Obama was set to face questions from Twitter.com users around the country Wednesday, as questions and commentary poured into the website's first official town hall.
The event, scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. ET, was to focus on jobs and the economy. Questions for the president will be selected by a staff of Twitter-selected curators and be visible using the hashtag #askobama. It will also be available at a page hosted by Twitter.com and as a livestream from the White House.
The moderator of the event will be Jack Dorsey, a Twitter.com co-founder who recently returned to the company, the New York Times reported. He will relay questions to the president, who will answer verbally while two big screens display the conversation on Twitter.
Obama himself won't deliver his answers in 140-character tweets, however. The president will be speaking to a live audience in the East Room of the White House.
Some of those attending were invited by the administration, because they follow the official White House Twitter account.
Early Wednesday afternoon, questions and comments aimed at the president and carrying the #askobama hashtag were being posted at the rate of about one every five seconds.
Tweets came from plenty of average people with serious questions, but also from politicians across the political spectrum, journalists, and attention-seekers.
Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio tweeted: "Mr. President, you said unemployment would drop to 6.7% w/stimulus. Now at 9.1%, can we talk about a jobs plan?"
Conservative commentator Andrew Cline identified himself as an official curator and urged readers to send questions through him: "I’ll be retweeting the best questions, and the Twitter staff will be monitoring my feed in their search for good questions to pose to the president."
Former Star Trek actor George Takei tweeted: "I just wanna hear him say 'My fellow Twitterers. Tweeps and Trolls.'"
How well the whole event will serve the president's agenda wasn't immediately clear. While it makes the Obama administration seem open and accessible, not all of the mainstream audience he seeks is using Twitter.Read more...
The event, scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. ET, was to focus on jobs and the economy. Questions for the president will be selected by a staff of Twitter-selected curators and be visible using the hashtag #askobama. It will also be available at a page hosted by Twitter.com and as a livestream from the White House.
The moderator of the event will be Jack Dorsey, a Twitter.com co-founder who recently returned to the company, the New York Times reported. He will relay questions to the president, who will answer verbally while two big screens display the conversation on Twitter.
Obama himself won't deliver his answers in 140-character tweets, however. The president will be speaking to a live audience in the East Room of the White House.
Some of those attending were invited by the administration, because they follow the official White House Twitter account.
Early Wednesday afternoon, questions and comments aimed at the president and carrying the #askobama hashtag were being posted at the rate of about one every five seconds.
Tweets came from plenty of average people with serious questions, but also from politicians across the political spectrum, journalists, and attention-seekers.
Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio tweeted: "Mr. President, you said unemployment would drop to 6.7% w/stimulus. Now at 9.1%, can we talk about a jobs plan?"
Conservative commentator Andrew Cline identified himself as an official curator and urged readers to send questions through him: "I’ll be retweeting the best questions, and the Twitter staff will be monitoring my feed in their search for good questions to pose to the president."
Former Star Trek actor George Takei tweeted: "I just wanna hear him say 'My fellow Twitterers. Tweeps and Trolls.'"
How well the whole event will serve the president's agenda wasn't immediately clear. While it makes the Obama administration seem open and accessible, not all of the mainstream audience he seeks is using Twitter.Read more...
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