Obama made a game-changing announcement yesterday: a proposal to make community college free [1] for students who are "willing to work for it." But what's just as surprising is that he chose to get the word out via social media. Through the White House's Twitter, Vine, and Facebook accounts, he gave us a preview of his State of the Union address set for Jan. 20.

Here's the Vine that was tweeted:

BREAKING: Watch President Obama announce his #FreeCommunityCollege [2] proposal → http://t.co/8YTKdPKa7U [3] https://t.co/vtM3wGwEUd [4]

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 8, 2015 [5]

And a longer Facebook message:

The proposal would grant free tuition to certain students who maintain a 2.5 GPA and graduate. The fact that the president released it on social media — a rare move for any politician — is definitely a sign of how more of us are consuming news these days. And, of course, where to go to discuss such matters.

@WhiteHouse [8] @ShannonBream [9] How about if we all get free 17-day trips to Hawaii this winter? It's "not fair" that I have to be this cold.

— Marc Hoover (@MarcHoover1) January 8, 2015 [10]

Breaking: Obama will speak on free community college and unemployment rate drop then brush dirt off his shoulders pic.twitter.com/rb0ztX9290 [11]

— jujoffer (@jujoffer) January 9, 2015 [12]