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.'
Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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...
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.
