Where Twitter's Town Hall Left Us Hanging

On July 6, the Twitterverse gathered to join in the first-ever Twitter town hall meeting with President Obama. Tens of thousands of tweeted questions were narrowed down to a chosen few, which Twitter's Executive Chairman Jack Dorsey read to the president. Here, we explore what everyone had on their minds, and what didn't make it to the president. WHERE TWITTER'S TOWN HALL LEFT US HANGIN HOW QUESTIONS WERE SELECTED According to Twitter, we all chose which questions the president answered. The explanation on the town hall site reads: "Twitter Search algorithms identified the most engaged-with Tweets from your questions and retweets by a panel of seasoned Twitter users with experience discussing the economy. TOWN HALL TWEETS 169,395 Total Related Tweets: BY THE NUMBERS 65,217 Total Question Tweets: Total Answered Questions: 18 ASK DATE OF ANSWERED QUESTIONS Jul 1, 2011 Jul 2, 2011 Jul 3, 2011 Jul 4, 2011 Jul 5, 2011 Jul 6, 2011 ASKED VERSUS ANSWERED Of the more than 65,000 questions asked using the #AskObama hashtag, the president 12 answered 18 on topics ranging from jobs and the economy to clean tech and the environment. But the breakdown of topics the president addressed wasn't exactly representative of what was being asked. ASKED QUESTION CATEGORY ANSWERED QUESTION CATEGORY Personal Economy 17% 21% Jobs & Unions 17% Jobs & Unions 17% Economy 13% Education 11% Other 6% Debt Ceiling 11% Foreign Policy 6% Military, War & Vets 11% Political Process & Reform 6% Taxes 11% Military, War & Vets 5% Environment & Clean Tech 6% Drug Policy 4% Immigration 6% Education 3% Small Business 6% Healthcare Science & Technology 3% 6% Taxes 3% Debt Ceiling 3% Environment & Clean Tech 3% Immigration 2% Gay Rights 2% Small Business 2% Science & Technology 1% Agriculture 1% DUE TO ROUNDING, PERCENTS EXCEED 100. LEFT HANGING With only 18 questions answered, naturally a lot people were left out in the cold. And many categories that people asked questions about weren't ever brought up. Trade relations with China, legalizing marijuana, and Obama's golf game didn't make the cut. Some sample questions included: 155-yard Par 3 on a downhill slope w/ water on front-right corner. Pin immediately behind it. 9-Iron or Wedge? #AskObama Personal #AskObama: How does trade deficit w/ China impact US ability to craft effective foreign policy with China? How can we fix imbalance? Foreign Policy #AskObama: Do you support doing away with the Electoral College, with gen'l elections by majority vote of the population? Why? / Why not? Political Process & Reform Can marijuana legalization encourage entrepreneurship? #AskObama Drug Policy #AskObama What's cheaper? Preventing diabetes from happening or the cost of curing the sick people? Make a difference! Healthcare #AskObama You say you support LGBT equality, but opponents of marriage equality use your position against it. How do you reconcile this? Gay Rights #AskObama: Will you help end our dependence on foreign oil by allowing US farmers to grow #hemp for biodiesel via the bipartisan #HR1831? Agriculture inboxQ SOURCE: ASKOBAMA.TWITTER.COM www.inboxq.com