Live Tonight on YouTube: The State of the Union

[Cross-posted to the YouTube Blog]

Tonight at 9 p.m. ET we'll be livestreaming the President's State of the Union address onYouTube. As we announced yesterday, not only will you have the opportunity to watch the speech live online, you'll also be able to submit your questions for the President during and after the speech, and the President himself will respond to a collection of your top-voted questions in a live interview at the White House next week.

When the State of the Union address begins at 9 p.m. ET, we'll open a Google Moderator series on CitizenTube (youtube.com/citizentube) that will allow you to submit and vote on questions (in text or on video) for the President. Be ready to submit your questions right after the speech as we'll only keep the platform open for a few days.

How will we know which questions to bring to the President in the interview? You'll tell us by how you voted. After the votes have been cast, we'll assemble a shortlist of the top questions, ensuring that we cover a range of issues, minimize duplicate questions, and include a mix of both video and text submissions. This is your opportunity for an exclusive interview with the President, so be sure to submit great questions and vote for the ones you think should be asked.

If you're submitting your question on video (which we prefer), please be sure to keep it short (20 seconds or less) and use the highest video and audio quality possible so that we can hear you loud and clear.

After the speech, we'll highlight the video of the entire State of the Union address, so those of you who aren't able to see it live can still watch and participate afterwards. We'll also feature Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell's official GOP response to the President's State of the Union, in what promises to be a lively and important discussion of our nation's future in 2010.

See you tonight at 9 p.m. ET on CitizenTube.

Experts respond to your questions about the State of the Union

Tonight at 9 pm EST, President Obama will deliver his first State of the Union address, which you can watch live at youtube.com/citizentube. One week ago, we asked you to share your own commentary on the State of the Union and what we can do to address the nation's most pressing issues.

You responded in droves, submitting hundreds of ideas for how to improve the country in 2010 and casting thousands of votes on what you felt were the best submissions from the community.

Newsweek convened four experts to respond to your top ideas and provide additional analysis, and we're featuring these four videos on the YouTube homepage today.

General Wesley Clark, the retired Army general and former presidential candidate, addressed your ideas on defense and national security:



Nouriel Roubini, a professor in economics at NYU widely recognized for predicting the real estate market crash, listened to your ideas on jobs and the economy and provided this response:



Jim Hansen, a renowned NASA climatologist and climate change expert, replied to your thoughts on energy and the environment:



And Fareed Zakaria, acclaimed author and international editor of Newsweek, discussed your top voted ideas in education:



Thank you for submitting your ideas. Be sure to tune in tonight to watch President Obama's speech live on CitizenTube (youtube.com/citizentube) at 9 p.m. EST, and submit your questions for the President during and after the speech. He'll answer the top questions in a special YouTube interview from the White House next week.

YouTube at the World Economic Forum @ Davos, 2010

We've arrived in Davos for the 2010 World Economic Forum, where we're opening up the discussions here to your questions at youtube.com/davos. See below a video of the YouTube production booth, where world leaders and participants in the Forum are shooting videos answering your top-voted questions on a variety of issues. We're also bringing your top questions to some of the panel discussions using our Moderator tool. Stay tuned here at Citizentube for more.

Citizentube in Switzerland: Social Media Panel @ Davos

Olivia and I have just arrived here in Davos, where we're working with several panels of experts to bring your voice to the discussions taking place here. We just finished a panel on Social Media, moderated by Loic LeMeur and featuring Evan Williams of Twitter, Owen Van Natta of Myspace, Gina Bianchini of Ning and several others.

We were able to pose two of the Moderator questions to the group assembled, here they are:

Question 1:

"The net was supposed to free us, but with the world becoming increasingly influenced by hype (popular news is over-reported along with decline of journalism) and efficiency (internet shorthands and lack of grammar online), is society deteriorating?"
-- herenthere, NY

Answers:

New media expert Jeff Jarvis believes strongly that society is not deteriorating as a result of the Internet. He believes that we need to have an inherent faith in the people. There are a lot of great things coming out including new models in journalism. He observed that when others gain control it breaks down old structures and it scares them and they complain. We need to believe in the power of the people to make things better.

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch asks was journalism so great beforehand? He wonders how journalists managed to convince people in the past that journalism was a beacon of truth? It's not so great - he's seen it on the inside. So he thinks things are improving with more people involved now than ever before.

Question 2:

"How involved should corporations such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc.. be in the Internet censorship laws that compromise access to their content, and don't they owe it to their users to try and ensure equal access worldwide?"
Racha M, Dubai School of Government

Answers:

Randi Zuckerberg from Facebook commented on the fact that Facebook is playing an important role in social revolutions and that the site has been blocked in Iran and China among other places. She didn't comment specifically on Facebook's role, but said they'd seen an outpouring of support for Google's recent decision not to censor search results in China.

Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn observed that they don't encounter most of the censorship issues other sites do. He stressed the need to parse out cultural sensitivity vs. freedom of speech, etc. He said that most corporate entities try not to take on public conflicts, and in Silicon Valley especially the attitude is often build the product, be transparent about it, and go from there.

Evan Williams the CEO of Twitter said he'll stand up against censorship, but not sure how much good it does for Twitter to try to fight with governments trying to censor. They'll be as involved as they can be, but not sure how much of an effect they can have since they're talking with governments that are fundamentally against what Twitter is all about. The most productive way for them to fight censorship is not to engage with the government directly but rather by enabling technological hacks and solutions that allow users to circumvent censorship.

Amidst violence, elections are held in Sri Lanka

Today, voters in Sri Lanka are heading to the polls to cast their ballot for president, culminating an election season that has been saturated with violence - in the past two weeks, at least four people have been killed in election-related attacks. This video contains more details, as well as information about the precautions being taken to ensure a fair election:

The race between current President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his challenger, the former army commander Sarath Fonseka, is extremely close. Bloomberg provides an overview of the race, noting that whoever wins will have the monumental job of helping the Sri Lankan economy recover after a 26-year civil war:

Your State of the Union

Every year, the President of the United States addresses a joint session of Congress to deliver his State of the Union address. Required by the U.S. Constitution, the address is the president's chance to take stock of the current condition of the United States and lay out his political agenda for the new year. Presidents have long used new technology to share their message directly with the American people. Calvin Coolidge was the first president to broadcast the State of the Union over the radio in 1923, and President Truman made history in 1947 when he became the first to deliver his address to a live television audience.

This year's State of the Union speech will also make history. It will be the first time that citizens will have the opportunity to ask follow-up questions during the speech -- and to hear the president's response to those questions. On Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET, during our live broadcast of the State of the Union on Citizentube, we'll open up a Moderator series for you to submit your questions for the president in video or in text (if you have the time, we'd prefer video). Over the following few days, you'll be able to submit additional questions and vote on your favorites too. Then next week (we'll announce the exact timing soon), we'll bring some of your top-voted questions to the president in a YouTube interview from the White House, which we'll also broadcast live on Citizentube. As always, questions are subject to YouTube's Terms of Service.

Already, discussions on YouTube about the State of the Union have been lively. Tomorrow on our homepage, we'll spotlight the responses of four experts to your ideas on the State of the Union. Check out those clips in the lead-up to the speech, then tune in tomorrow night to ask the President your questions. We'll also feature the GOP response to the president's address, in what promises to be an engaging discussion on the direction of the country in 2010.

Cross-posted on the YouTube Blog

YouTube's All-Access Pass to Davos

For the past three years at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, YouTube has partnered with WEF to give YouTube users the chance to send videos to world leaders. Fom a special production booth up the Swiss Alps, presidents, CEOs, and global change-makers respond directly to those videos throughout the conference. This year, we're opening up the conference even further by allowing you to share your ideas using our new Moderator tool which will be incorporated into three different panel discussions at Davos. Go to the Davos channel (youtube.com/davos) to submit your ideas and questions.

Loic LeMeur will bring your questions to his panel on the growing influence of social networks; Rima Maktabi of Al Arabiya will use your ideas on her televised panel on the balance of power in the Middle East, and Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times will include your thoughts in the debate over female genital mutiliation, a panel which will feature the winner of our "Your Pitch to the World" contest, Julia Lalla-Maharajh.

And as usual, we'll be streaming your questions at our YouTube booth at Davos, too.




One value of the Moderator tool is that it allows you to engage via video and text. You can also vote up the most important ideas and questions submitted by others to help determine which issues you want the panelists to address. We used the same platform in Copenhagen for the CNN/YouTube Debate on climate change, and will continue to use it in 2010 as a way to bring your participation to televised events.

Go to YouTube.com/Davos and join the discussion now. Here's more information about each panel, including the deadlines for submission:

January 20: The Growing Influence of Social Networks

• Host: Loic LeMeur (Seesmic), Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Reid Hoffmann (LinkedIn), Owen van Natta (MySpace), Gina Bianchini (Ning), and others

January 21: The Balance of Power in the Middle East

• Host: Rima Maktabi (Al Arabiya)

January 30: YouTube Debate on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

• Host: Nicholas Kristof (The New York Times)

Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics, recently watched "Al Arabiya Debate"

Ever wonder what it's like to plan the President's travel?

When President Obama decides to travel outside Washington, all most people see is the speech he gives. But imagine what it must be like to coordinate the travel of the world's most powerful leader. Security, logistics, media... it's an undertaking that requires hundreds of people and thousands of man hours. Here's a great behind the scenes look that the White House just posted detailing one of the more interesting and stressful places to work in government: the Presidential Advance team.

Live Tonight: Top Artists Perform in "Hope for Haiti Now" Benefit Concert

Over the past week, citizens and organizations from around the world have rallied around Haiti, offering tremendous aid for the relief effort currently underway. But even though tens of millions of dollars have been raised online via sites like YouTube, Haiti's road to recovery will be long, and more financial support is desperately needed.

That's why tonight, in partnership with a variety of media companies, we're live-streaming "Hope for Haiti Now," a benefit concert for earthquake relief. Hosted by George Clooney, Wyclef Jean and Anderson Cooper, the event will feature performances by Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Shakira, U2, Coldplay, Taylor Swift and many more.



The concert starts tonight at 8 p.m. ET on www.youtube.com/hopeforhaitinow, and it will be available to a global audience. Donations from the event will go to a number of different organizations, including the Red Cross, UNICEF, the UN World Food Program, Partners in Health, Yele Haiti and Oxfam. After the show, you can continue to donate money and get the latest information coming out of Haiti at our Crisis Response landing page.

Cross-posted to the YouTube blog

Year One Review: The U.S. Government on YouTube

It's been one year since the U.S. government came to YouTube with the launch of the official White House YouTube channel and President Obama's inaugural address. Soon after, we launched our Senate and House Hubs with the U.S. Congress, and then we brought the entire federal government to the site on YouTube.com/usgovernment. On the heels of a presidential election in which YouTube became a key tool for most political campaigns, politicians took their lessons from 2008 and started applying them to governing. The results were interesting and, at times, quite surprising.

Here are some of the highlights, statistics, and milestones of year one of the U.S. government on YouTube:

The White House:

• The White House ended it's first year on YouTube with 21 million video views and close to 100,000 subscribers.
• President Obama's first YouTube Weekly Address brought FDR's fireside chats into the 21st Century.
• The White House's July health care townhall, brought in 300 citizen-submitted video questions for the President to answer in a live townhall.
• Some of the most talked-about videos from the President focused on international diplomacy, including his Nowruz message directed Iranian citizens and government, his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo, his video addressing Turkish Parliament, and his Ramadan and Diwali holiday greetings.

The U.S. Congress

• A total of 430 Members of Congress have started YouTube channels to inform and engage with their constituents.
• Capitol Hill caught up with YouTube trends, learning the power of the viral hit, the mash-up, and even cat videos.
• Though the Democrats captured the majority of the seats in Congress, 89% of Republicans have channels, compared to just 74% of Democrats. In yesterday's big win for the GOP in Massachusetts, Scott Brown's campaign had an undoubtedly superior YouTube channel to his opponent Martha Coakley.
  
• Eight of the top 10 most-viewed and most-subscribed YouTube channels in Congress are from the GOP.
• The House seems to be using YouTube more effectively than the Senate - only one Senator makes the list of most-viewed and most-subscribed channels.
  

Top 10 most-subscribed YouTube channels (in order):

• Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL)
  
• Representative Ron Paul (R-TX)
  
• Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
  
• Representative John Boehner (R-OH)
  
• Representative Randy Forbes (R-VA)
  
• Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI)
• Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
  
• Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA)
  
• Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC)
  
• Representative Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI)
  

Top 10 most-viewed

• Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI)
  
• Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL)
  
• Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
• Representative Randy Forbes (R-VA)
• Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA)
  
• Representative John Boehner (R-OH)
• Representative Tom Price (R-GA)
  
• Representative Don Manzullo (R-IL)
  
• Representative Don Young (R-AL)
  
• Representative Ron Paul (R-TX)

The Federal Government

• Over 150 federal agencies have started YouTube channels since our agreement went into place on May 22.
• The State Department continues to use YouTube in innovative ways, such as the Democracy Video Challenge, the Alliance of Youth Movements, and videos like this one from Secretary Clinton about 21st Secretary Statecraft.
  
• In summer 2009, HHS launched an H1N1 Flu PSA contest on YouTube - the first-ever effort by the government to get citizens to create PSAs. The winning video as voted by the YouTube community was from a doctor whose H1N1 rap made him an Internet celebrity for a few months.
• The IRS Channel on YouTube features dozens of videos informing people about new credits and deductions and other changes in the tax law.
• NASA's Astronauts used YouTube and Twitter to take questions from space, the Library of Congress started uploading it's archives (check out this video of a sneeze from 1894), and the CDC uploaded emergency preparedness clips.

- Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics