Congress on video

Until recently, "franking" rules dating back to the days of snail mail and newsletters limited the use of online tools by members of Congress.

But in September, thanks in part to a DC grassroots campaign called Let Our Congress Tweet, those rules were relaxed, enabling lawmakers to post content from third-party sites — including YouTube, Flickr and Twitter — on their websites.

But now Congressmen plan to do more than just embed URLs: like the future President, they plan to use online video to promote their agendas and communicate with constituents, writes The New York Times.

Responding to the government's need for two dedicated commercial-free zones — one for the House, one for the Senate — YouTube immediately offered to accommodate the videos. The resulting sites, Househub and Senatehub, dryly quip, "The leaders of both the Senate and the House announce that Congress is now in session, on YouTube."

The Google property has already hosted a number of political "events," ranging from the first presidential debates in June '07 to election day mitigation, when users uploaded videos of their personal voting experiences.

Its You Choose '08 channel for the election drew hundreds of millions of views, YouTube reported. And directly after winning the nomination, President Elect Barack Obama began using YouTube to communicate with the country once a week, Roosevelt-style.

Other politicians that have taken advantage of YouTube's direct connection to the people include the British monarchy and Queen Rania of Jordan, who last year won YouTube's first-ever Visionary Award for her work.

Some members of Congress already have their own YouTube channels, but the creation of a central hub may broaden participation. Legislators and staff have a lot to learn about video content and web production — most videos come across as little more than ads, observes TechCrunch.

Here, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) waxes optimistic on economic recovery:

Of course, no one ever accused Congress of being particularly hip, writes the Washington Post, pointing to an oft-ridiculed statement Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) made some years ago: that the internet is "a series of tubes."

The non-exclusive agreement with Congress is unlikely to make money for the online video site. But if the vlogging politicians' idea catches, YouTube may benefit from a larger and more politically-minded audience.

At present, however, things look modest: View counts for the uploaded videos remain below 500, which in YouTube terms is practically imperceptible.