Following its live broadcast of the speech, YouTube will be hosting a live interview with the President, to be conducted by three popular creators.
The event is due to take place on the White House’s YouTube channel on January 15 at 2.15 p.m. ET, several days after the State of the Union speech on January 12. The hosts include YouTube stars Destin Sandlin, Ingrid Nilsen, and Adande Thorne.
In a post on its official blog, Google encourages fans to pitch questions to the three creators, who might relay them to the president. Additionally, viewers can also take to social media with their questions by using the hashtag #YouTubeAsksObama.
Sandlin is the brain behind the SmarterEveryDay YouTube channel, which currently boasts over 3.5 million subscribers and is home to elaborate scientific experiments. Nilsen’s eponymous YouTube channel contains the 26-year-old’s lifestyle vlogs on everything from cooking to fashion. Her tips mixed with personal insights generate millions of views. Thorne goes by the nickname sWooZie on YouTube, using his channel to illuminate his life experiences and anecdotes, sometimes directly to the camera and through the use of animated clips. Thorne’s channel currently has over 3.7 million subscribers.
The White House’s use of technology and social media has significantly grown under the Obama administration. Aside from conducting seven similar YouTube interviews in the past, Obama also posts weekly addresses to the video service. Outside of YouTube, the White House just joined Snapchat and First Lady Michelle Obama recently invited a group of popular Vine users to help her kick off her “Better Make Room” campaign.
