Even in the most serious of circumstances, it’s important not to lose your sense of humour. And this even goes as far as the White House. Lightening the tone of the debt ceiling debate, the Twitter account used by the home of The President (@whitehouse) joined the online craze known as ‘Rickrolling”.
In an effort to engage with web users, the White House was conducting an online chat it labelled “Office Hours” in an attempt to involved people in the rather slow issue of debt and budget negotiations. This saw deputy director of the National Economic Council, Brian Deese, taking questions from Twitter users via the official White House account.
But after the rather heavy discussion of the state of the econony, the fate of the US budget and the continuing negotiations to raise the debt ceiling, some of those listening chipped in with their opinions over the tone of the tweets. One user wrote:
“This WHO correspondence briefing isn’t nearly as entertaining as yesterday’s. #SCOT #WHchat”
In response to this, the White House decided to do “something more fun”. Their response was thus:
@[Twitter User] Sorry to hear that. Fiscal policy is important, but can be dry somethings. Here’s something more fun: tinyurl.com/y8ufsnp #WHChat
Anyone who clicked on the link would be taken to a YouTube video for singer Rick Astley’s 1987 number one hit Never Gonna Give You Up. The practical joke known as “Rickrolling” has been around for a few years now, and lures web users into clicking a link to that song, which has now been seen by over 36,000,000 people.
Just goes to show, even those in the high offices and seats of power around the world are still in touch with what goes on at ground level, and still have a sense of humour.