Appearing all set to elevate its profile in American politics, YouTube has collaborated with the Congress and launched its two new Web pages - Senate Hub and the House Hub - which will bring to its large online audience a peek into the life on Capitol Hill.

The Monday launch of YouTube's new platforms will enable lawmakers to create a video channel on the site - which will include a map of the US, whereby the users can navigate to the channel of their elected officials.

YouTube will give senators and representatives not merely a place to promote their agendas, but also an opportunity to interact with citizens.

With many members of Congress already having channels on YouTube, and President-elect Barack Obama having embraced it for the broadcast of his weekly address in both audio and video form, the remaining members of the congress are expected to follow suit.

In a welcome video, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi said: "While we may not see eye-to-eye on everything, one thing we can agree on is the importance of utilizing technology to communicate with constituents."

Despite the fact that most videos uploaded by lawmakers till now have not attracted big audiences, YouTube claims that its You Choose '08 election channel drew millions of views. However, the popularity of its congressional channels can only be gauged over time.

In fact, YouTube's arrangement with Congress is not an exclusive one - the lawmakers can post videos to other online services as well.