Obama’s excellent Web 2.0 adventure
March 27, 2009 by Valerie HelmbreckPosted in: Communication, Green technology, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Web sites, social networking
President Barack Obama’s proved once again that if you build it on the Web, folks will come. And they’ll come in droves.
The new president held his first electronic town meeting this week and he tallied an impressive number of questions from the public, which was then encouraged to vote for their favorites
The official numbers: The Web site’s Open for Questions portal launched earlier in the week attracted some 92,928 users who submitted 104,111 questions and cast 3,606,658 votes for queries they wanted answered.
In his opening remarks, Obama called this new online effort an “experiment.” The first question that he took was one of the most popular submitted by the online audience. “How do you plan to restore education as a right and core cultural value in America?” asked a participant from Boston.
The president said the country needs to focus on investing in teachers, improving science curricula and reforming education policies.
Other subjects posed by online questioners included small business, the economy, green energy and health care reform.
Can business leaders take a cue from the uber-popular president to improve their communications with customers and clients?
Sure, they can. But it takes some guts to take the tough questions. And if a leader is seen as ducking anything but a softball query, this kind of event will quickly lose its luster and effectiveness.
Obama’s ability to think on his feet and communicate clearly gave him a distinct advantage in this virtual town hall. He finessed most questions easily, connecting most to his established talking points on different topics.
But more than just being glib, the president was able to come off as sincerely interested in the questions his audience posed.
Any CEO who tries to do the same will need a brutally honest communications chief who can coach a leader to at least appear humble and interested in the face of impertinent grilling.
This president seems to be a natural at disarming critics and challengers. Not many people have these skills. And using the Internet to manage your message can involve risk, especially if you “go live” with conversation.
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Tags: electronic, obama, online, town hall, virtual, Web 2.0
March 31st, 2009 at 10:40 am
Valerie: Isn’t it amazing how fast those teleprompters work these days?
March 31st, 2009 at 11:28 am
If he had a teleprompter, it would have taken binoculars to see it! The wide angle shots of the room didn’t turn one up.
By the way, I was disappointed that he didn’t take the marijuana legalization question seriously. He seemed to just blow that one off and there are plenty of serious folks who don’t think it’s such a bad idea. Guess it was too hot a potato to touch…
April 1st, 2009 at 7:21 am
Valerie: Such a wonderful PR posting.
April 1st, 2009 at 7:30 am
Thank you. But I did criticize his ducking that pot question, just for the record.
So tell me, what’s this obsession with teleprompters? Is that supposed to mean that by using one, what the president says doesn’t count? That he shouldn’t have prepared remarks? that no thought should have gone into a speech. There hasn’t been a president in thirty years who hasn’t used one routinely — even the exaulted great communicator and dementia patient, Ronald Reagan used one.
Should the president just be winging it in front of the whole world? Do we really want another president who flubs his oratory so consistently that he crashes the economy, takes us to an unnecessary war and spreads misinformation about basic science?
I’m going for the teleprompter.
April 1st, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Do we really want a president who takes the previous mistakes (that he supported as a congressman) and makes them worse? (So a bigger deficit is a better one)? And how about that “basic science” misinformation that is being spread as “Global Warming”?
Valerie – I enjoy your business news and commentaries – please don’t mix in political favoritism!
April 1st, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Valerie: Sorry, I was asked a question by a reader and I answered it. The original post was about using streaming video town hall meetings to get your message out, not about politics. It was offered as an example of how to connect to stakeholders, not as a political diatribe.
It was Mike who introduced the subject of politics into the conversation.
You have to admit, Obama has used the Web and technology well. Mike suggested he used a teleprompter, which he didn’t for that event. Frankly, I found Mike’s insinuations about the topic somewhat out of left field — what exactly is the problem with a leader (of a country or company) reading prepared text on a topic? Every president for thirty years has done the same, but somehow, this president is duplicitous for having used one?
As for about Global Warming, it’s odd that 98% of the world’s scientists believe it’s happening and you’re labeling that as “misinformation.” Kind of like religious leaders having those folks arrested who said the world was round…the science may not suit a particular agenda, but that doesn’t make it bad science. Just bad news for those who don’t want anyone to believe it.
By the way, nice name!