Tune in tonight: The State of the Union, and your questions

Tonight at 9 p.m. ET, U.S. President Barack Obama will deliver his second State of the Union address - and for the second year in a row, you can submit your follow-up questions for him right here on YouTube. Tune in to youtube.com/askobama and be sure to submit a question for the President (video questions preferred) and vote on your favorites. On Thursday January 27, at 2:30 p.m. ET, we’ll bring a selection of your top-voted questions to the President at the White House in an exclusive, live YouTube Interview.



Just as interested in the GOP’s plan for America? Speaker of the House John Boehner will be doing a YouTube Interview within the month, so stay tuned for more announcements on when and how you can participate. You'll be able to see Rep. Ryan deliver the Republican response to the State of the Union on YouTube after the President’s address as well.

Thursday is your chance to be part of history, so when you sit down to watch the State of the Union tonight on YouTube, grab your video camera, cellphone, or webcam and record a question as the ideas strike you. This is a unique opportunity to have direct access to the President, and if you’re still not sure what to ask, check out this playlist of submitted questions for inspiration.




The deadline for your question submissions is midnight ET on Wednesday, January 26.

This YouTube Interview with President Obama is the beginning of the YouTube World View program, a series of interviews with public leaders and big thinkers who will be answering tough questions all year on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched, “Sheila’s question, from New Brunswick, Ohio.”

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5 Questions for Jack Conte and Natalie Dawn, Pomplamoose

What you hear is what you get with YouTube Partners Pomplamoose. Every sound you hear in their music videos is produced by an instrument you see played in their music videos. It’s a novel idea they call the “videosong”. And, in a world with so many artificial, over-produced sounds, Pomplamoose provides refreshing covers and original music. Brands are taking notice of this authenticity, too. If you've been living in a hole for the past few months, you might have missed their Hyundai commercials over the holidays.

Continuing on their quest to make music (and musicians) more accessible, we asked Jack Conte and Natalie Dawn about how they got their start, what it’s like working with brands, and buying Etsy chandeliers to create your very own mysterious aura.



You should also tune into their live webshows on Tuesdays at 6:30pm PT at www.pomplamoose.com.

Shenaz Zack, Product Manager, recently watched, “Pomplamoose - If You Think You Need Some Lovin”

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Trip Report: Google and YouTube in Iraq

Earlier this month, a small team from Google and YouTube spent a week in Iraq on a trip arranged by the Department of Defense’s Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO). Our goals were to explore opportunities for Google in Iraq, to understand the landscape of Internet access and connectivity in the country during this critical transition period, and to bring top-voted questions from YouTube to Iraqi leaders in a series of interviews. We met with students, private sector companies, NGOs and Iraqi leadership in the Kurdish city of Erbil in the north, and in Baghdad.


Pictures taken by the Google/YouTube team in Iraq: Harry Wingo (Policy), Carrie Farrell (Google.org), Debu Purkayastha (Corp Dev), Olivia Ma (YouTube), Mary Himinkool (Business Development), and Steve Grove (YouTube).

Regardless of your feelings about the Iraq War, it’s immediately evident upon arrival just how completely the country missed the Internet boom during Saddam Hussein’s regime. Internet penetration rates in Iraq are among the lowest in the Middle East—somewhere between one and eight percent. Only 15 percent of Iraqis say they use the web, and the largest percentage of them live in Baghdad. There are no commercial data centers in Iraq and much more fiber connectivity is needed to meet consumer needs. Most connections are via satellite, and those who do have connections pay dearly for it—we heard estimates of up to $150 U.S. dollars per month for a 512kb connection. To incentivize and enable private companies to lay more fiber in Iraq, a complex set of roadblocks must be addressed—from security concerns to regulatory frameworks to licensing structures. As the country is still struggling to form a government more than seven months after its last election, much of this progress has been stalled.

There are signs of progress, however. Mobile penetration has skyrocketed in Iraq in the past seven years, from effectively zero percent in 2003 to over 70% today. And the Iraqi people are highly educated. We met with dozens of computer science students at Salahaddin University in Erbil and at Baghdad University, and though they lack equipment and resources, they’re highly motivated to innovate and believe the web is a critical component of their economy’s future.

Many young people in Iraq and around the world submitted questions in Arabic and English for three interviews we conducted in partnership with Middle Eastern news agency Al Arabiya. Google Translate enabled anyone to vote on their favorite questions regardless of language, and we brought the top five questions to current Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister of the Kurdish Regional Government in Erbil, Dr. Barham Salih, and Iraqi politician and once the interim Prime Minister of Iraq, Ayad Allawi. Here is the television special that Al Arabiya produced showcasing their answers:



The Iraqis we met consistently expressed their desire for increased access to the web and for more access to content and tools in both Kurdish and Arabic. We believe access to information and high-speed connectivity to the cloud will be key to the future of the country. The power of the web to change people’s lives grows the further one gets from Silicon Valley, and we look forward to continuing our work with companies, governments and citizens in Iraq and other countries in transition.

Mary Himinkool, New Business Development, and Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "Voices: Conversation Between Iraqi and American Students."

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Elmo answers your questions about housing prices on Sesame Street, Cookie’s veggie intake, and more

It’s not every day you get an all-access pass to one of the most famous neighborhoods in the world and one of it’s most celebrated residents. So when Elmo, Sesame Street’s lovable red monster, offered to answer questions from the YouTube community, you seized the opportunity.

Thousands of you asked questions, ranging from “What would you do if you suddenly woke up and were purple?” to whether he would consider a tap dance routine with Ricky Gervais (who recently made a Sesame Street appearance). The result? A very entertaining YouTube interview. Watch it for yourself here:



Elmo now also holds the title for answering the most number of questions in any YouTube interview. He may be small but he can talk fast, rolling through over 20 questions in just 20 minutes. And his good humor shines through: almost every one of his answers is punctuated with his signature giggle.

Are there other characters you’d like the chance to interact with? Let us know in the comments and we’ll pass the info on to our friends at Sesame Street.

Ramya Raghavan, News and Public Interest Manager, recently watched “Will.i.am’s Song: What I am.”

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Your questions on the future of Iraq

There is perhaps no other country in the world that has undergone more change or been under more scrutiny in the past decade than Iraq. The draw-down of U.S. troops and a recent election that has yet to produce a formal government have left Iraq in a state of flux. The country’s destiny has implications not just for the Arab world, but for the world at large.

That’s why, in partnership with the Arabic-language television network, Al Arabiya, we’re launching “Iraq Looks Forward,” a series of interviews on YouTube in which Iraqi leaders answer your questions about the future of the country. This is your chance to engage directly with top Iraqi officials, so visit youtube.com/alarabiya to submit your questions and vote on which you think should be asked.





A selection of the top-voted questions will be posted to sitting Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Barham Salih, and others.

The deadline for submitting questions is Monday, September 27.

Olivia Ma, News Manager, recently watched “Tony Blair on Iraq and Iran - The View”

Update: Former sitting Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has also confirmed his participation in this interview series.

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President Clinton: The YouTube Interview

You asked, and he answered: see President Bill Clinton in our latest YouTube Interview on CitizenTube:



Tomorrow, the former President launches his sixth annual Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York, where he’ll bring together CEO’s, philanthropists, nonprofits, and political leaders all in once place to make “commitments” to fund ideas and organizations who are tackling some of the world’s biggest problems. The focus areas of the meeting are empowering women and girls, market-based solutions to problems, access to modern technology, and harnessing human potential.

You have the opportunity to join the discussion at CGI, via a special Moderator series they have set up on their YouTube channel. Hear more from New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, and submit your questions now.





Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics, recently watched, “Join the Conversation at #CGI2010”

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President Clinton takes your questions on YouTube

William Jefferson Clinton has worn many hats over the years. He served two terms as the 42nd President of the United States. He founded the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative to tackle problems like global health, poverty, education and climate change. He’s spent much of this year leading the recovery effort in Haiti through the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

And starting now, he’s taking your questions in an exclusive YouTube interview. Hear more about the interview and the President’s work straight from the man himself:



To participate, visit www.youtube.com/citizentube and use the Moderator platform to upload your video question for President Clinton—and vote for the ones you like the best. You can also submit a text question if you can’t record a video.

Later this month, at his annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting, President Clinton will sit down with us and answer a selection of your top-voted questions in our interview.

Submit your question and start voting early! The submission period closes on September 13.

Ramya Raghavan, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched, “Elizabeth Warren - Got a New Sheriff.”

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Introducing our most monstrous YouTube interview yet

We’ve had a lot of famous folks sit down for interviews in the past year, like President Obama, Shakira and Katy Perry, but our next subject, with his tony address and instant name recognition, may have celebrity status that tops all the rest.

Through a partnership with Sesame Street, Elmo will answer your burning questions right here on YouTube. So, moms and dads, if your family has ever wondered, “How exactly do you get, do you get, to Sesame Street?” or whether Oscar’s really as grouchy as he seems, here’s your chance to ask. More details from Elmo himself here:



And if you need some extra inspiration thinking up questions, take a spin through some of these Elmo classics:



Upload your video question to the Moderator gadget on Sesame Street’s YouTube channel and vote on the ones you think Elmo should answer by September 15. He’ll answer the top-voted ones in a few weeks.


Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits Manager, recently watched “Monster in the Mirror”

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