The White House has entered the Meerkat age of politics.
Press secretary Josh Earnest on Friday sat down for the White House’s first interview through Meerkat, a new app that allows anyone to publish a lifestream through their phone. MSNBC political corespondent Kasie Hunt conducted the 15-minute interview, which was watched by about 340 people at its peak.
{mosads}The app that debuted last month has garnered a lot of buzz on social media and within political circles for how it could enhance reporting during the 2016 presidential election.
“I think it is a little bit of a risk for a candidate,” Earnest said. “I mean in some ways it turns every single reporter and every [person] you run into into a live cameraman — somebody who has instant access to the global communications network.”
When prompted, Earnest said he hopes Hillary Clinton and anyone else considering a presidential campaign will “do something new and different and embrace that opportunity” which comes from new social media technology.
“If you are scared of it, or if you sort of attempt to do everything you can to protect yourself from it … that’s not the right attitude,” he said.