[This post originally written for the Undercurrent blog, Make the Internet a Better Place]
President Obama is, undeniably, the first U.S. President of the digital age. Throughout his election campaign, Obama became a wildly popular participant in a wide range of social networks (from Twitter to YouTube, LinkedIn to Flickr; and, of course, on Facebook and MyBarackObama.com). By utilizing online technologies to reach out to citizens and to organize countless enthusiastic communities, Obama and his new media team amassed millions of supporters through conversation and interaction. By talking as well as listening to voters, Obama successfully opened up the lines of communication with citizens – people developed immense loyalty and support for the candidate who could seemingly empower and unite anyone, in a genuine and far-reaching way. Of course, this story is already old news because the technologically-savvy President is now in office. That is, the transition to a two-way administration that facilitates increased transparency has only just begun. Case in point: digital fireside chats (formerly located here, before Inauguration), The Citizen’s Briefing Book, and the first ever Presidential Blackberry.
What comes as more of a surprise, however, is the legislative branch’s own forays into new media tools. Beginning to break its closed shell of stodginess, Congress can be found tweeting under the Twitter usernames @HouseFloor and @SenateFloor
They may not @reply or follow others - however, it's definitely a new form of communicating Congressional activity.
Perhaps even more exciting, Congress has been developing their commercial-free YouTube “hubs” for both the House of Representatives (HouseHub) as well as the Senate (SenateHub). These sites feature an interactive Google Map through which users are encouraged to “Discover, Connect, and Engage with [their] Government.” By clicking on a state, the map displays the links to that state’s Representatives’ or Senators’ YouTube channel (provided they have one). Though YouTube manages these hubs, each Congressperson’s office creates the original content for their individual channels – a huge step in the direction of a more transparent and open government.
In addition to clicking on the state, there is also a drop-down menu from which you can select your state.
In the video below, both the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate welcome citizens to check out Congress’s new home on the internet. Despite their differences, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says, “one thing we can agree on is the importance of utilizing technology to communicate with constituents.” They welcome comments and response videos from citizens, thus encouraging people to directly access and communicate with their elected officials. In other words, instead of mass calling a Senator’s office, people can also create YouTube video responses. This ability has shifted into every internet user’s hands, along with the responsibility to find their representatives on YouTube and to keep tabs on their activity in Washington D.C. This “backstage pass to government” may be unprecedented, but it is certainly welcome.
Oh, and there’s also a new iPhone application called Town Hall that gives you information on all current or past members of Congress – it even gives Twitter Search results that display what people are tweeting about that representative. Now if only this application would also link to each Congressperson’s YouTube page…
