So have you requested the white house to be your friend on MySpace? Have you become a fan on Facebook? Or maybe you've followed it on Twitter?
President Obama will not twit, I have been authoritatively informed. Or should that be tweet? Unsure about the correct verb form for sending Twitter messages, I turned for guidance to my authoritative informer, Macon Phillips, the affable young Internet specialist in charge of the White House's new-media office.
He seemed unsure as well. "But I don't think the president is the right person for this. There are better ways to engage the micro-blogging community," he told me, explaining at another point: "We try to find the audiences where they are, and deliver the president's message to them at the best delivery point." That now includes Twitter, where the White House established an institutional presence last week.
Social networking has reached new heights. Its crazy how the white house, not a person, but a building, has profiles on many of the networking sites. On MySpace, the white house has 175,532 friends. Twitter:34,956 followers. Facebook:158,959 fans. All of these are steadily growing. Isn't this amazing? We have the ability at our fingertips to access information from the white house itself! I asked my roommate on Wednesday, "Are you friends with the white house?" She was like no; I guess she didn't believe me. Yes, its true.
I think it's nice that the white house has profiles. Maybe we don't have to reach out to the media anymore, or do we? Maybe politics has become too mainstream. But as time goes on, new things approach and we can't always stand still in tradition. This might be the breakthrough we need. People complain about how the media "soups up" the goings-on in the world, but this makes citizens closer than they've ever been to the world in which we live.
I personally think it would be weird if the President was twittering away, so it comforts me that he isn't REALLY involved in the "twits or tweets" and status updates. I wonder how many people would click on the "like" button on Facebook if the President just so happened to update a status. It makes me feel good that he's attending to the business of his country. He's a human being with human feelings and human wants and needs, which include his blackberry. Some people complained about his having a blackberry; just because he has a noble title doesn't mean that he doesn't want to text Mrs. Obama an "I love you" every once in a while.
After all, communication is key in any relationship, whether its with your spouse or your country.
Well, now that the White House is on Facebook I am going to add it. Facebook has absolutely been sweeping the nation, and it really comes in handy in college. Friends and family can always get a hold of you via Facebook email without bothering you in class with a phone call. However, I am not exactly sold on Twitter yet. It seems pretty cool and unique, but you can already do most of the stuff that Twitter has to offer on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI am in total agreement with The Shredder above. A good majority of the population gets on Facebook more than they read a newspaper/watch the news. It is a good idea for the White house to keep in touch and why not start where masses of people are going.
ReplyDeleteI haven't joined the Twitter phenomenon. I can do a lot more with my Facebook.