10 Downing Street is launching a new video site, Number10TV, in a new effort to help Gordon Brown engage with the public. The prime minister’s office has engaged video player maker Brightcove to use its video platform on both Number10.gov.uk and the new site, which will include speech videos, press conferences, media appearances and a news archive. Brightcove said it will also collect user-generated video.
Downing Street opened a YouTube channel under Tony Blair in May 2007 – Blair most famously using it to congratulate new French president Sarkozy in French. Brown took a leaf out of the CNN/YouTube US presidential debates a year later when he used the channel to host an “Ask The PM” feature, in which citizens posted their questions via video. No. 10 has since taken to Twitter and, this week, Flickr. The new site looks like a basic official video repository, minus the citizen interaction.