March 26, 2009

President's Online Town Hall Meeting a Good Use of the Technology

I watched part of President Obama's online town hall meeting this morning. In all, 92,933 peopel went online to submit 104,077 questions and cast 3,605,999 votes on which questions should be answered by the President. Five questions were chosen.

Though there were no new policy announcements made, the online meeting was an interesting political event. It was well-choreographed and excellently streamed, and a nice use of social networking media.

While I would have preferred a real-time online meeting, I think that the Administration made good use of the technology. If this will lead to more openness and transparency in government, it will be a good thing.

1 comment:

Barry said...

More "openness and transparency" from questions posed days in advance? I'll bet it was "well-choreographed."

I'd prefer my press conferences unrehearsed with professional journalist-posed questions and follow-ups. At least while we still have journalists.