Barack Obama Visits Facebook Headquarters

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President Barack Obama recently paid the Facebook headquarters a visit for a public town-hall meeting. Mark Zuckerberg played host, fielding questions from the crowd and online.

Barack Obama often credits the youth as among the demographic that helped him ascend the presidency. It’s probably appropriate, then, to address a crowd of mostly young people who are into social media. The town hall meeting was attended by Facebook employees, who were able to ask their own questions about the economy and other pressing issues. The President also answered queries sent online via Facebook. Of course, Mark Zuckerberg had the privilege to be the first to field his own question.

Among Obama’s notable statements, he said the US $1 trillion debt can still be fixed. He added, though, that the country needs a serious plan to attack the deficit, lest investors decide to pull back once the economy is in better shape. As for immigration and jobs, Obama says it’s a complicated issue, but that skilled immigrants are job-generators who provide benefit to the country.

Obama stressed the importance of the Internet age. He says he wants people to focus on innovation with an excitement similar to that of the moon landing. ”I want people to think of the next big Internet breakthrough as the next moon launch,” he says. Given this, Obama says there is a need to improve the education system for better math, science and Internet-related education.

If you’ve never seen Mark Zuckerberg wear a coat and tie, this is just the event. But more characteristic of the Facebook founder, tho ugh, he gave Barack Obama a Facebook hoodie at the end of the town hall meeting.