Older photo showing stage being built at Hofstra University for tonight's presidential debate (Image credit Hofstra University)

WHYY the NPR/PBS station in Philadelphia will again tap one of the internet’s emerging social networking sites Twitter to enhance its coverage of the presidential election. Why Twitter? Well one of people’s favorite past time is yelling at the TV. But many of us will be watching the presidential debate along or with someone who’d rather be watching baseball. So Twitter allows like-minded folks to connect during the debate and express their thoughts in short comments they post on their Twitter accounts. The beautiful thing about this is anyone can read in real-time what people are saying. WHYY will be monitoring more than 1000 Philadelphia area Twitter accounts tonight for comments about the debate and posting the best ones for everyone else to see.

You don’t have to have a Twitter account to participate on our blog. So while we’ll be posting tweets, you can also just type in your comments on our debate post and you’ll be included. Philadelphia is still a small town in many ways and we hope the It’s Our City blog can play a role keeping everyone engaged in the political process without feeling anonymous in a larger national media website. So please check in with us tonight during the debate to see how the Delaware Valley is saying.

Third presidential debate

John McCain vs. Barack Obama

Where: Hempstead, New York

Moderator: Bob Schieffer host of CBS Face the Nation

When: 9:00pm eastern

You can watch the debate on WHYY TV12

Hear the debate on 91FM and whyy.org