A note to all communication professionals in the U.S. government: Your biggest boss, the President of the United States, is now leading the way in using new media to communicate with the American public.
Just a few minutes past noon today, as President Obama recited the oath of office, the whitehouse.gov site become the official domain of the 44th President of the United States. If you're familiar with President-Elect Obama's Web machine, you'll find President Obama's Web machine familiar and intuitive. Blogs, slideshows, videos and lots of information on issues provide tons of engaging content. The site is neat and clean, modern and simple.
The blog's first post is written by someone who has what is now the world's coolest job: director of new media for the White House. (Not that I'm jealous or anything.) The post says the new media initiative will be based on three principles:
- Communication: providing timely and in-depth content
- Transparency: pledging a "window into the business of government"
- Participation: allowing public comment on major new issues.
Now, the social media junkies out there will quickly recognize that the blog does not allow for comments, which conflicts with the "participation" principle above. But since it's the president's first day on the job, and since he may have a thing or two more important to do, we'll cut him a break.
As the blog states, change has come to whitehouse.gov. And that's a good first step.
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