Obama Faces The Nation On Google Plus Hangout

President Barack Obama broke new ground for Google+ on January 30th. The President conducted a 45 minute video chat on the White House’s new Google+ page and YouTube, answering questions related to last week’s State of the Union address. Ordinary citizens were allowed to ask questions via YouTube until January 28th, with a YouTube viewers vote helping to determine which questions Mr. Obama would answer at the hangout. In addition, five individuals were selected to participate in the live hangout.

The White House has made broad steps lately to increase its social media presence, with Twitter, Facebook, and now a Google+ page to share information, relate upcoming visits, and clarify positions. The Google+ page was created just two weeks ago and it’s considered a coup for Google that the video hangout was conducted on Plus, as opposed to the much bigger social media giant, Facebook. In the past the President has utilized YouTube for several “town hall” meetings, but this is the first time citizens were allowed to directly interact with Obama via video social media. The White House announced that they would have no role in the selection of the questions asked, nor would they have a role in selecting the citizens allowed to participant in the hangout.

This isn’t Google’s first time hosting political hangouts on Plus; Republican Presidential nomination contenders Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have previously used the service. The battle for social media presence is rapidly becoming more fierce as Google incorporates more and more of their services into the Plus environment. With an election year in full swing, it’s a certainty that social media, be it Google+, Facebook, and / or Twitter, is going to play a large role in how the political messages get out, and how the reaction from the voters are dissected by the experts. Facebook and Google have previously hosted Republican debates and as Election 2012 goes into full-bore mode, it seems a sure thing that this Presidential hangout will not be his last.

I posted a question Monday afternoon on my Google+ wall and asked if people were going to be watching the hangout. Below is a sample of the responses.

Kevan Tollefson – yes I’m watching.
Chris Shuler – I know I am. I’m interested to see if this is another White House publicity thing or if they are really going to engage the American people.
Gary Harris – some people are so gullible.
Michael Mozart – I’m hoping to be in the Hangout since my Question was voted Number ONE by the YouTube Community!
Jodi Kaplan – Gee, what’s with the marijuana questions? What about ACTA? Guantanamo? Getting Congress to act like adults (both sides)?

As the hangout went live, I monitored Google+ for the social media response to the first Presidential Google Plus hangout. A fascinating circumstance happened during the hangout that I hadn’t envisioned; very few people were writing comments in my stream. What I was seeing were dozens and dozens of people posting hangouts of their own to share in Obama’s hangout. People wanted to talk with each other about what was going on in the conversation between the five individuals selected and President Obama. People were using the same technology that Google was offering the President, the same technology that Media Tapper uses for our weekly meetings with staff living in various sections of the world. In the six months of Google+, it’s safe to say that the vast majority of the people I talk to in my circles have never used a hangout. I’m seeing many people reply that they never knew a hangout could be like this – a meeting with high-grade streaming video and sound. Google not only just opened a new avenue for the President of the United States, they opened an avenue to the users of Google+ that may have assumed hangouts were choppy, grainy videos with terrible sound.

At a time when US voters are getting more comfortable interacting with candidates via the internet, it will be interesting to see if the train whistle stops, the bus tours, the local diner early morning meet and greets — long considered mandatory rites of passage for those seeking higher office in America — will diminish as technology allows for greater and more intimate communication between candidate and voter. Or will that hand shaking, baby kissing, dried out chicken eating ritual still be more important?

I’d like to know what you thought about the hangout, what you think of the idea of using hangouts as a means to interaction with a candidate, and do you need the public interaction to help you decide on candidates.