President Barack Obama, who entered office with a high percentage of youth support, is once again rallying America’s youth and using social media to do it.

President Barack Obama (Creative Commons)

Obama will host a town-hall meeting on Thursday, allowing young people around the nation to submit questions to him using Twitter.

Participants can submit their questions by using the hashtag #ask plus the topic of the question, according to the official White House announcement. For example, if the question concerns jobs, the user would use the tag #askjobs, or if the question is about energy, #askenergy. Viewers can also post comments using the hashtag #comment.

There will also be a pre-selected live audience of about 250 young adults. The pre-screening is raising some controversy.

The hour-long program will air live at 1 p.m. PDT on MTV, BET and CMT. Viewers not near televisions can stream the event online on the websites of MTV, BET and CMT.

Thursday’s town hall will be similar to one held Tuesday at George Washington University, where Obama’s supporters submitted questions through popular social networks: Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and Skype. Obama used much of the scheduled time reminding youth of the positive actions Democrats have taken since he assumed office.

In 2008 Obama’s public appearances seemed to increase the youth vote. He had a powerful following on college campuses, and in Iowa alone, the under-30 vote tripled that year.

To reach staff reporter Shakira Keller click here.

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