Yesterday, Buzzfeed released a video and article about “Things Everybody Does But Doesn’t Talk About, Featuring President Obama.” Yup, featuring President Obama. I thought that this was really good timing to write a blog post because I just finished listening to the President’s keynote here at Stanford on cybersecurity. After watching the Buzzfeed video and listening to his summit keynote, I wanted to look more into how I, as a young citizen of America, view President Obama through my various social media outlets.

A particular phrase that I found really interesting during the summit is when President Hennessey was introducing President Obama, and said that he was our nation’s first (or most) “interconnected” President. I found that extremely powerful because I think that phrase shows how powerful social and digital media have become for mass communication and connection as we think back to our discussions, readings, and examples in class.

I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that using Buzzfeed as a medium is a strategy for President Obama to reach out to the younger demographic. And it worked for me. Not only did I find the video humorous and relatable, but seeing the President on a website that I frequent makes me connect with and trust him more. Furthermore, I was able to remember the date February 15th for enrolling in health care plan from the video, which is part of the President’s message.

Beyond Buzzfeed, I’ve seen countless GIFs of the President on my own social media platforms like Tumblr or Facebook of him talking about this wife, high-fiving Kevin Durant, or even about his State of the Union. All of these instances make me think he is, frankly, one of the raddest presidents out there, and I know that part of my feelings towards the President are undeniably influenced by what I see about him on my social media platforms. Moving forward, I am interested to see how social media can influence how we view our future presidents.