Federal government: Star of YouTube, Flickr?

Agencies will step up use of videos and photos on social networking sites

The federal government, keeping in line with President Barack Obama’s directive for a more “transparent" and open government, will soon be a staple on YouTube, Flickr, Vimeo and blip.tv, with similar plans in the works for social networking sites Facebook, MySpace and Ning.com, officials said Wednesday.

“We know that about every minute, 15 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube, and there’s about 50 million people that use Facebook,” said Martha Dorris, associate administrator of the General Services Administration's Office of Citizen Services and Communications. “That’s where the public is going to get their information, and they don’t necessarily always go to government Web sites.”

The timing of the announcement coincides with Thursday's first White House online town hall about the economy, where the president will answer some questions from the public, and the event will be streamed live on WhiteHouse.gov.

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