President Obama hits Reddit as traffic brings site down

While Republicans met in Tampa for the convention, President Obama managed to win the Internet on Wednesday when he participated in an “Ask Me Anything” chat on Reddit. The site has become one of the most influential on the Web, with it’s ability to trigger memes, surface interesting news, and be, at times, rather ribald. It’s earned the nickname: The front page of the Internet.

But it’s also gaining a lot of respect for its influence, and Obama becomes just the latest in a string of notable names to hold chats there.

Obama kicked off his talk with this intro:

“Hi, I’m Barack Obama, President of the United States. Ask me anything. I’ll be taking your questions for half an hour starting at about 4:30 ET.

Proof it’s me: https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/240903767350968320

We’re running early and will get started soon.”

While there was plenty of trademark snark among participants, there was also some real substance:

SharkGirl asked: We know how Republicans feel about protecting Internet Freedom. Is Internet Freedom an issue you’d push to add to the Democratic Party’s 2012 platform?

The interest was so high, that the surging traffic temporarily brought Reddit down.

And even as it got back up, it continue to run slow.

We’ll keep an eye on questions and responses, and try to link to some of the most interesting. But Obama has definitely given himself and added dose of Geek cred today.