Barack Obama's 'Ask Me Anything' Brings Down Reddit

When President Barack Obama ran for office in 2008, his campaign was different from anything we'd seen from other presidential candidates. His office leveraged social media tools, such as Twitter and Facebook, to engage with a younger generation of voters. When he assumed office, he launched his own YouTube channel and during his term he's hosted Google+ Hangouts and Twitter sessions. Yesterday, Obama took things up a notch with an AMA on Reddit. His Q&A was so popular that he crashed the site.

Reddit's AMA (Ask Me Anything) subreddit is a forum that allows individuals to host their own Q&A sessions. People can post AMAs, opening themselves up to any questions that Reddit users have, no matter how personal in nature. If they wish to limit questions to those of a less personal nature, then they can host AMAA (Ask Me Almost Anything) threads instead. Obama announced yesterday that he would be spending 30 minutes answering questions on the site and he didn't limit the questions users could ask.

Now 30 minutes isn't a lot. Indeed, Obama only answered 10 questions, and Reddit users asked thousands. In fact, The Verge reports that many users couldn't even access the site because it was overwhelmed with traffic. Despite growing popularity, the site has managed to maintain some of its obscurity. Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian branded it a 'huge day for Reddit.'

So, how did Obama find Reddit? According to the final update to his AMA post, Obama classed "this whole Reddit experience" as "NOT BAD!"

Reddit member Biinaryy compiled all the questions and answers in a single post.

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  • acerace
    I'll be honest. This guy is sometimes quite awesome.
    Reply
  • fpoon
    Or was it 4chan that was behind this?
    Reply
  • Triaxis
    Not a surprise, Obama brings everybody down.
    Reply
  • pacioli
    Groundbreaking stuff... Really taking on the issues that matter!
    "How do you balance family life and hobbies with, well, being the POTUS?"
    "Who's your favourite Basketball player?"
    "What is the first thing you'll do on November 7th, win or lose?"
    "What was the most difficult decision that you had to make during this term?"
    "What's the recipe for the White House's beer?"

    I'm surprised no one asked what his favorite color was...
    Reply
  • tjensen_25
    Reason #6,548 to hate Obama: He ruined Reddit
    Reply
  • aftcomet
    Must be election time.
    Reply
  • greghome
    9397581 said:
    Not a surprise, Obama brings everybody down.

    Hopefully team republic eh?
    :sarcastic:
    Reply
  • tupz
    He's also, surprisingly, has bad grammar. I was wondering if it was really him or an intern typing his typical everyday replies.
    Reply
  • tupz
    err.. He*
    Reply
  • bllue
    He managed to answer 9 questions in 30 min. Some people complain about that but that's about 3 min per question which I'd say isn't bad at all considering most were a bit long.
    Reply