President Barack Obama will hold a town hall-style session on Facebook later this month during a trip to California. Social media has been a popular means for Obama to communicate with supporters, particularly during his 2008 presidential campaign, and his advisers are eager to tap into the youthful audience that drives Facebook.
The ‘virtual meeting’ on Facebook will be conducted on April 20 from Facebook’s headquarters in Palo Alto, California. According to an announcement posted on the White House Facebook page, the rally will feature Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and will be streamed live over the Internet. The White House says Obama will conduct a discussion on the economy and the need to reduce the government's debt while still spending on innovation and other administration priorities.
Virtual participants will be able to post questions on the event’s Facebook wall before and during the event. President Obama’s Facebook page is already ‘liked’ by more than 19 million people, far ahead of the possible Republican contenders. Sarah Palin, who has not yet said whether she will run, has 2.8 milllion fans on her page. President Obama kicked off his 2012 reelection campaign on Monday with an announcement that he will run for a second term of office on YouTube and in an e-mail to supporters. The announcement allows the President to begin raising money in earnest for what advisers hope will be a record-breaking haul of more than $1 billion.
Obama, a Democrat who won a sweeping victory over Republican Senator John McCain in 2008 with a message of change, said in the announcement that he was filing papers to start his re-election bid in a formal way. 'So even though I'm focused on the job you elected me to do, and the race may not reach full speed for a year or more, the work of laying the foundation for our campaign must start today,' he said in the email. 'We've always known that lasting change wouldn't come quickly or easily. ... But as my administration and folks across the country fight to protect the progress we've made - and make more - we also need to begin mobilising for 2012, long before the time comes for me to begin campaigning in earnest.'