( CNN ) -- As the first president-elect with a Facebook page and a YouTube channel , Barack Obama is poised to use the Internet to communicate directly with Americans in a way unknown to previous presidents . Since the election , President-elect Barack Obama has posted weekly video addresses on YouTube . Judging by Obama 's savvy use of social-networking sites during his campaign and the interactive nature of his transition team 's Web site , Americans can expect a president who bypasses the traditional media 's filters while reaching out to citizens for input , observers say . `` The rebooting of our democracy has begun , '' said Andrew Rasiej , founder of Personal Democracy Forum and the techPresident blog . `` [ Obama ] has the potential to transform the relationship between the American public and their democracy . '' During the presidential race , Obama 's campaign won praise for its innovative use of social-networking sites , including Facebook , MySpace and MyBarackObama.com , to announce events , rally volunteers and raise money . Facebook has more than 150 million active users , and the average user has 100 friends on the site , according to the company . iReport.com : Your chance to ask President-elect Obama a question . Obama has more than 1 million MySpace `` friends '' and more than 3.7 million `` supporters '' on his official Facebook page -- some 700,000 more than when he was elected in November . His campaign also has a database of almost 13 million supporters and their e-mail addresses . Transition officials hope to transform Obama 's vast Web operation and electronic list of supporters into a 21st-century tool to help accomplish his goals as president . They even have a name for this ambitious effort : Obama 2.0 . `` Obama has invented an alternative media model , '' said CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider . `` In the old model , the president talks to the people on television [ and ] the people talk back in polls . In the new model , communication is online , and two-way . '' Facebook , MySpace , YouTube and Twitter did n't exist when George W. Bush took office eight years ago . But since last November 's election , Obama has wasted no time embracing these online communication portals . In recent weeks he has taped weekly video addresses and posted them to YouTube , where most have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times . Obama 's staffers also have stopped posting information to social-networking sites since the election , preferring to reach out to constituents through YouTube and Change.gov , the official site of the president-elect 's transition team . Visitors to Change.gov can read a frequently updated blog , post their ideas on issues facing the country , and rate others ' ideas . Top-rated ideas will be gathered into a briefing book and given to Obama after he takes office . `` They want information going not just from them to the voters , but from the voters back to them , '' Democratic strategist Steve McMahon said Wednesday on CNN 's `` The Situation Room . '' `` Thirteen million people pushing a button , sending an e-mail to their elected representatives , making a phone call , taking action , is a powerful , powerful lobbying tool . '' `` It 's a very smart use of the Internet , to get people to offer ideas , '' said David All , a Republican Internet strategist . All hopes that Obama and his staff take a similar approach to WhiteHouse.gov , the president 's official Web site . The current WhiteHouse.gov site , operated by the Bush administration , contains few interactive features . A statement on the president-elect 's transition site says that Obama hopes to `` use cutting-edge technologies to create a new level of transparency , accountability , and participation for America 's citizens . '' It 's fitting , then , that Obama 's inauguration next week could be one of the most watched video events in Internet history . Rasiej expects that hordes of users will be watching online when Obama takes the oath of office , visiting WhiteHouse.gov and refreshing their browsers to capture the moment the site switches to proclaim Obama , not George W. Bush , as president . As president , Obama will likely not just rely on WhiteHouse.gov but use multiple Internet sites and technological tools to build grass-roots support for his agenda , observers say . `` [ Obama ] is using the tools that are available to him today , '' All told CNN . `` The next president will be using some of the same tools , and also some tools that have n't been invented yet . ''
As president , Barack Obama will use the Web to communicate directly with citizens . Obama can bypass traditional media filters while reaching out to Americans . Political-tech expert : `` The rebooting of our democracy has begun '' Transition officials have a name for this online communications effort : Obama 2.0 .