From POTUS’ first-ever Messenger bot on Facebook, to FLOTUS on Snapchat. Thomas Jefferson didn’t have Facebook or Twitter. But centuries before social media, the tradition of presidents reading citizens’ letters might well date back to his presidency. These letters, I think, do more to keep me in touch with what’s happening around the country than just about anything else. Some of them are funny, some of them are angry, a lot of them are sad or frustrated about their current situation. — President Barack Obama From Jefferson to , technology has made it easier for presidents to maintain this centuries old tradition, which has essentially remained the same. Until now! Barack Obama The has just launched a new way to contact the president using Facebook: the first-ever Messenger bot — “a first of its kind for any government the world over,” as , the White House Chief Digital Officer, explained in a . The White House Jason Goldman Medium post Back in June, the White House ’s Snapchat channel, ahead of her trip to Liberia, Morocco, and Spain for her initiative. launched The First Lady Let Girls Learn “Today, we are peeling back the curtain and taking you behind-the-scenes with the First Lady’s new Snapchat account. […] By following the First Lady on Snapchat, you will see stories of the 62 million girls around the world who aren’t in school and find ways you can take action,” Kelsey Donohue, Office of Communication for First Lady Michelle Obama, said on Medium. The White House earlier this year, as part of its digital strategy centered on . joined Snapchat meeting people where they are As , Director of Product Management at the White House and a former Facebooker, explained: “This decentralized approach, in response to the proliferation of social media, aims to provide the American people with a multitude of ways to engage with their government.” Josh Miller As part of this strategy, in May last year POTUS and a few months later — this is in addition to Barack Obama’s social media channels run by his foundation and used earlier for its campaign. joined Twitter Facebook Organizing for Action The White House has been actively experimenting here on Medium too — which . In addition to managing 5 publications, the White House has used Medium to publish the entirety of the President’s right before its delivery in Congress, as well as the full text of last year’s . it joined in 2014 2015 State of the Union Address Iran Deal _Full text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as agreed to in Vienna on July 14, 2015_medium.com The Iran Deal Obama has about 5 months left in office. I’m sure more is yet to come!

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