This article was published on January 11, 2016

YouTubers bring 10 million young fans to State of the Union interview with the POTUS


YouTubers bring 10 million young fans to State of the Union interview with the POTUS Image by: Ingrid Nilsen

Having just pushed his office live on Snapchat and looking at the people lined up for interviews following his final State of the Union address, Barack Obama is clearly keen for us to remember him as being ‘down with the kids.’

Obama’s team has worked closely with Google to enlist three YouTube stars, Destin, the engineer presenter of SmarterEveryDay, lifestyle vlogger Ingrid Nilsen and comedian sWoozie to interview him on Friday January 15 following his final State of the Union address tomorrow.

Each brings more than 3.5 million subscribers with them to the party and while Nilsen has promised to ask about women, LGBT rights, healthcare and unemployment, sWoozie has suggested this is his chance to find out who is Obama’s favorite Kardashian.

Here he is catching up with the others ahead of the big day.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsfnYrAOPe0&feature=youtu.be

Anticipating that some people online may not exactly play ball, Destin has asked his viewers to leave only “intelligent, respectful comments” on the video announcing that he’s taking part.

Last year almost 500,000 people tuned in live on YouTube to see the POTUS interviewed by another suitably varied 21st century team, in the shape of YouTubers Bethany Mota, GloZell Green and Hank Green.

Given it’s the last one before Obama leaves office, this one could draw an even larger crowd.

You can hashtag #YouTubeAsksObama to join the chat on Twitter and there’s dedicated Reddit thread being pushed live soon.

The official State of the Union address will be streamed live on the White House YouTube channel tomorrow at 9pm EST. You can also catch the preparations on the White House’s new official Snapchat channel.

The YouTubers will then take on the President in the same place on YouTube on Friday at 2.15pm.

➤  YouTube creators interview President Obama following his final State of the Union [Google]

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