22 April,2011 08:14 AM IST | | Agencies
US President Barack Obama faces a debt crisis, angry Republicans, and a hard fight to reelection -- but at least, he noted yesterday, he got Facebook's youthful founder to dress up.
Jackets are off: Mark Zuckerberg unusually wore a tie for President
Obama's speech at Facebook headquarters in California... even though
he stuck to his habitual jeans. pic/AFP
"My name is Barack Obama, and I'm the guy who got Mark to wear a jacket and tie," the president quipped about Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg to open a campaign-style event at the social media titan's headquarters.
"Thank you," Obama said with a chuckle as Facebook employees rewarded him with a chorus of laughter. "I'm very proud of that." "Halfway through dinner, he's starting to sweat a bit. It's really uncomfortable for him. I helped him out of his jacket. In fact, if you want Mark, we can take our jackets off," joked Obama further.
And so, like Obama has often done during less formal speeches, the president removed his coat, and Zuckerberg followed, revealing a dress shirt and black tie. (Though, he did wear sneakers.)
"Yeah, you're a lot better at this than me," Zuckerberg joked.
Zuckerberg (26) had swapped his trademark hooded sweatshirt for a jacket, shirt and tie -- though his top button wasn't closed -- for the president's unprecedented appearance.
Obama's visit aimed to recapture twin engines of his historic 2008 run for the White House, when his campaign harnessed the power of social media and young voter enthusiasm, ahead of his 2012 reelection battle.
The president notably aimed to promote his vision for reining in galloping US deficit and debt, including raising taxes on the richest Americans -- including himself and Zuckerberg.
"I'm cool with that," the Facebook founder said."I know you are," replied Obama.At the end of the discussion, Facebook offered a gift to Obama. It was a sweatshirt with the website's logo stamped on the front -- "in case, for some reason, you want to dress like me," Zuckerberg said.u00a0
New book
A new book which promises to reveal the 'truth' about President Obama's origins went to press this week.
The book has already shot to number two in Amazon's bestseller list, even though it is not due to be released until May 17. After three years of investigations, author Jerome Corsi has written Where's the Birth Certificate?u00a0 The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President. Corsi has gone to ground ahead of its publication,u00a0 and he is holding the findings close to his chest. But a source said, "It's utterly devastating. Obama may learn things he didn't even know about himself!"
Did you know?
In the recent past, President Obama and his wife along with Facebook carried out an anti-bullying campaign, which led to Facebook creating a set of tools
to protect users from bullying
Fans of Facebook
Even though US President Obama was the first to visit the headquarters of the Social media Giant, there are other world leaders who are big fans of Facebook.
1) The Royal Family:
The Royal Family uses its Facebook page to keep the public up to date on big events and at the moment the page is dominated by plans for the royal wedding. The page has 331,312 'likes'.
2) Nicolas Sarkozy
The French president (and his staff members) publish the latest news about his diplomatic visits and official functions.
3) Queen Rania of Jordan
The 76th most powerful woman in the world has a huge following on Facebook, with 6,30,000 likes on her official page. She uses the site to bring attention to her favourite philanthropic causes and post photographs of her at work in her official role.
