President Obama’s fourth State of the Union Address on Tuesday night will allow viewers to experience the president’s second-term agenda interactively. In addition to the White House-implemented digital features, such as the enhanced version of the speech on WhiteHouse.gov and engagement tools like Citizen Response, viewers can also tune in via social media and large-scale interactive experiences like Bing Pulse, which is a partnership between the Microsoft search engine and Fox.
Here, BlackEnterprise.com highlights 3 ways you can make your State of the Union experience much more interactive:
WhiteHouse.gov
Starting with tonight’s State of the Union speech, the White House is rolling out various digital projects to allow Americans to voice their concerns and opinions on foreign affairs, employment and the economy, among other pressing issues.
Similar to last year, WhiteHouse.gov will stream a data-enriched version of the State of the Union on the site, featuring graphs, data and charts that will help explain the president’s main points. This will also be available on Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Hulu and Ustream. Users have the option of embedding the stream on their own site. You can also watch it via the White House mobile apps.
Giving Americans another outlet to weigh in, they have released a tool called Citizen Response. Citizen Response allows users to share certain parts of the speech through social media, as well as provide the Obama administration with your feedback, according to a White House blog post.
Once the speech wraps, a live panel featuring White House policy experts will take place. You can submit your questions on Twitter with a #WHChat hashtag and tune into the panel on the White House website.
Social Media
With second-screen viewing on the rise, you’ll want to know which accounts to follow. Keep in mind: The appropriate hashtag is #SOTU on Twitter. Various media outlets and organizations will likely host State of the Union Twitter parties so peruse through the platform to get more information.
National advocacy group The League of Young Voters is hosting discussions throughout the day on Ustream entitled #BarackTalk.
You can follow your respective party at @RepublicanGOP or @TheDemocrats, but for a more in-depth list check out the Twitter lists for House Republicans and House Democrats.
Bing Pulse
Sparked by a recent survey that found approximately 75% of Americans identified themselves as active participants or observers in online political discussions, Bing Pulse was born.
Search engine Bing will be hosting “the largest interactive State of the Union experience in history,†according to the company. In partnership with Fox and Foxnews.com, Bing launched Bing Pusle to allow users to give real-time responses to Obama’s address. By visiting Bing.com/politics during the State of the Union, you can join in on the dialogue by “voting†every five seconds on your reactions to the president’s speech. Bing Pulse results will be shown on the first screen via Fox News and on second-screen devices on the site.
Another feature, Bing Beat, will analyze social media sentiment on numerous issues from the fiscal cliff to immigration.
How will you weigh in? Let us know in the comment section below.