Obama Tweeted, Now Facebooking?

As an unemployed-by-choice college student, I was not exactly excited to see my bank account status this morning from the weekend's festivities. In that light, it dawned on me that I might actually consider applying for a part-time job, despite my heavy workload which will not get any easier, to compensate for my weekend habits.

But after speaking with my mother, complaining about spending too much money, she put in perspective for me how terrible this economy really is. Though I've never noticed before first hand, it gave me quite a culture shock.

After bouncing around on Twitter, I stumbled upon a brief article on how The White House is dipping into social networking by teaming up with members of Monster.com. Tomorrow through November 14th, the public can venture to the Monster's Facebook page and post any question regarding the unemployment and dwindling economy.

Based on the popularity of the question and amount of comments and "likes" the post will get, will constitute if the president will answer it via video or not. Although I am unhappy with the diplomatic decisions he has made recently, such as his 2oo million dollar/day trip to India, it is quite refreshing to see the administration utilize social media into their publicity moves.

Since social media is the hot item on the market right now, it is comforting to know (for my generation at least) that The White House is trying to reach out to the public's concerns by optimizing Facebook and Twitter.

However, being a skeptic of this administration, I wonder if the president really even knows how to use Facebook and Twitter or if this is solely a publicity stunt to attempt to entice the younger generations. It is very doubtful to say the least.

I also wonder how the baby boomer generations feel about this social media outreach as well. Do they believe it to be a waste of time because they are unfamiliar or unaware of social media's impact among audiences? Or do they just ignore it because it is irrelevant to them and their concerns?

Either way, unemployment and the economy are clearly significant issues of the nation and must be brought to attention and addressed by any means. But here lies the problem: instead of using hashtags to answer questions on Twitter like Obama did previously at a town hall meeting, they are using Monster's Facebook fan page.

There are less than 10,000 fans of Monster. So who exactly is the White House going to reach? Yes, Monster is a big and recognizable company, but I think using their Facebook page is a poor and inadequate tactic to use to address public concern.

I think the Obama Administration needs to higher a new PR and social media representative.

Social media and the White House