Google Plus may have been snubbed by the Obama team following his reelection in November, but the social network is making use of Google Hangouts to draw attention this week. On Wednesday, The Internship debuted its trailer via hangout. On Thursday, President Obama will host a “Fireside Hangout” to answer viewer questions following the State Of The Union address two days prior. Next week, the crew of the International Space Station will host a Hangout with an audience on Earth.
Google Hangouts have been used in the past for NASA events, political promotions, and hot topic news discussions. While on the radar of the public, the Hangouts have not generally held widespread appeal until recently. The events appeal to a wide variety of demographics and have the potential to draw more national attention to the platform.
The Internship Google Hangout Debut
February 13th Google engaged in a shameless display of self promotion, debuting the trailer for The Internship- a film set at Google- on a Conan O’Brien hosted Google Hangout. The 30 minute hangout included the trailer premier, discussion with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson (the stars of the film) and live questions from viewers using the #theInternship hashtag.
As a member of the SEO community, I personally can’t wait to see this movie. It’s clever promotion campaign just adds to the film’s appeal to the online community.
Fireside Hangout
President Obama will settle in to answer viewer questions in a follow up to his State Of The Union address on February 14th. The Fireside Hangout is described on the event page as: “the latest in the series… a 21st century take on FDR’s famous radio addresses.”
The event mirrors that of the 2012 Fireside Hangout which addressed similar themes. The timing allows the Obama administration to target younger demographics as well as provide the last word on the STOU. The platform has been used before by President Obama and Vice President Biden, but the White House Google Plus presence in general does not appear to be of high priority.
You may remember that following the 2012 election the Obama campaign took to social media to celebrate and posted messages of victory on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Google Plus, meanwhile, remained silent. The Hangout marks Obama’s first significant foray back into the site since the reelection.
Image via WhiteHouse.Gov
You can tune in to the Fireside Hangout on February 14th at 4:50pm EST and keep up with the discussion using the #firesidehangout hashtag.
International Google Hangout
On February 22, 2013, NASA will host a publig Google Hangout with the crew of the International Space Station. This will be the first Google Hangout hosted with the ISS according to NASA’s announcement. 3,407 users are currently planning to attend. Commenters on the event page have suggested the Hangout is an opportunity for teachers to connect their classrooms to a greater learning opportunity.
Prior to the event video question submissions may be submitted via YouTube. On the day of the event the crew as well as astronauts and members of the NASA team will answer text questions in real time from Twitter and Google Plus using the #askAstro hashtag. Question will also be read from the wall of the NASA Facebook page.
Users can sign up to attend the Hangout and ad it to their calendars here.
