Today, users of Google+ were sent a reminder via email that President Obama will be having his version of a Fireside Chat, by using Google+ Hangout.
This Valentine’s day, the president will be participating in a series called "Fireside Hangouts.” The White House has described the Google+ event as “the 21st century version of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous radio addresses, known as Fireside Chats.”
Atharv Patel of Chicago suburban Wheaton says he is “excited” that the President is using Google+.
“I have been on the Google+ since it was in beta. When they introduced Hangout, I thought it was a brilliant idea. To see that the President (is) using it to talk to Americans is really great. It gives us all an opportunity to ask questions.” said Patel
On Facebook today, confused users asked others on the social networking site:
“Did you notice a memo when you did a Google search at the bottom of your screen that said, “President Obama answers your questions?” "RSVP to tomorrow’s Hangout. What is that?” reported the Huffington Post.
With Google+ now the second largest social networking site, the White House is utilizing its unique services.
A Google+ Hangout is a free video chat service from Google that enables both one-on-one chats and group chats with up to ten people at a time. While somewhat similar to Skype and FaceTime , Google+ Hangout focuses more on "face-to-face-to-face" group interaction as opposed to one-on-one video chats offered by Facebook, and utilizes sophisticated technology to seamlessly switch the focus to the person currently chatting.
President Roosevelt began addressing citizens directly when he was still governor of New York in 1929 and continued the informal addresses as president. March 12, 1933, a week after his inauguration, was the first time he addressed Americans informally as their president.
The term “Fireside Chat” stems from Harry C. Butcher of CBS. He referred to FDR's talks as such and once the public and media began to adopt the term, the president embraced it.
Obama will be participating in a “Fireside Chat” of his own, answering Americans’ questions regarding his SOTU speech and the issues and policies he laid out in the address. Except he's updated the term into "Fireside Hangout" .
Questions for the president can be submitted on and voted on by Americans through the White House +YouTube Channel: http://at.wh.gov/hC22N.
Watch live stream footage of the “Fireside Chat” on Thursday at 4:50 p.m. EST on the +The White House Google+ page and at http://youtube.com/whitehouse.
Right now, the presidents SOTU speech can be viewed on the same channel for those who missed it.
Currently, nearly 75,000 Google+ users have responded to the president’s “Fireside Hangout”.
Google+ sent out a reminder email stating,
“During the Google+ hangout, the President will answer questions from Americans across the country about the issues and policies laid out in the speech. (State of the Union).”
How you can join:
Right now, you can submit a question for the President and vote on your favorites on the White House +YouTube Channel: http://at.wh.gov/hC22N
The hangout will occur live on Thursday, February 14th at 4:50 p.m. ET on the +The White House Google+ page. It will later be archived on YouTube http://youtube.com/whitehouse.
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