KaKoo

U.S. President Barack Obama will address the nation about the Gulf oil spill at 8 p.m. ET today. You’ll be able to watch the speech online at WhiteHouse.gov and on the White House YouTube channel. Fifteen minutes after the President’s speech, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs will answer your questions on YouTube.

You can submit your questions ahead of time at YouTube.com/WhiteHouse. You can then use Google Moderator to vote for questions you’d like to see answered.

What do you think about the way that government is using social media and tools like YouTubeYouTube to connect with voters and citizens?

While many of us were focused on the Facebook privacy saga, an ongoing debate about access and transparency in regards to the much more critical problem of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was taking place.

British Petroleum (BP) originally announced that it was going to live stream video of the “top kill” procedure to the public, only to later backtrack and say it wasn’t sure if it could “maintain a live feed” during the operation.

After considerable blowback from government officials, such as Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass), BP acquiesced and announced via its Twitter stream that it would continue to serve its live stream.

The “top-kill” procedure was started about five hours ago, but because most of what takes place is happening inside of pipes, most of the action won’t appear on camera anyway. You can still watch the live feed for any noticeable changes in the plumes of oil. BP says the procedure could take up to two days.