YouTube Debate Spawns a Trend

We’ve had our nitpicks with the CNN-YouTube debates, but you’ve got to admit it’s pretty cool to see regular Joes and Janes ask high-falutin’ politicians unfiltered questions from the comfort of their own homes. And the format is gathering steam, with everyone from the elite Davos Conference to Al-Qaeda asking for user questions via video over the weekend.

• Davos, the nickname for the World Economic Forum meeting held annually in Davos, Switzerland, is asking YouTube users to answer the question “What one thing do you think that countries, companies or individuals must do to make the world a better place in 2008?” The highest-ranked videos by viewer votes will be shown to the gathering of world leaders and influencers at Davos at the end of January. And Davos attendees will contribute responses their own answers from the confab.
• Meanwhile, Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri asked sympathizers to send in questions for him to answer in an open interview, according to reports. It’s not clear that the questions would be submitted via video, but people are interpreting it as such because the Zawahri request was part of a 97-minute video released on Sunday.

Hey, if Diddy can hire an assistant via YouTube video interviews, just imagine where this trend could go.