Remember the hoop-dee-do-dah in 2008 about Congressional use of social media? As the 111th Congress debuts, YouTube has released two hubs, Youtube.com/senatehub and Youtube.com/househub where citizens can check out their Senators or Representatives.
Here’s hoping that sharp eyes keep a lookout for content that crosses the line from governing to electioneering. Remember: it’s not legal to campaign with government resources. And even though this resource is privately offered, it’s endorsed officially and should be used for governance only.
Mark my words: that restriction is going to be hard to enforce. See: FEMA Starts PR Campaign With New Channel on YouTube
Don’t try to find the hubs using YouTube’s search feature. I think of myself as having good Google-Foo, but I came up dry. Thanks to Broadcasting&Cable for the links. Turns out the details are on the YouTube blog, which doesn’t have a top-level link on the YouTube home page. (Google – get a clue and fix the YouTube UI, would ya?)
And thumbs-down to the NYT, which reported the story with nary a link to the source or the hubs. See The War Cry Over Congressional Use of Social Media.
