Perhaps learning lessons from Hillary Clinton's troubles caused by using personal email for official purposes, U.S. President Barack Obama just opened on Monday a new official Facebook page for the office of the President of the United States (POTUS).
Techcrunch reports that Obama already has a personal verified Facebook page with the address https://www.facebook.com/barackobama/, while the new official one uses https://www.facebook.com/potus. He had earlier done the same thing for his Twitter accounts by using the handle @POTUS for the official account and @BarackObama for his personal use.
Because his personal Facebook page has been open for several years since 2007, organized during his campaign for the presidency, it has more than 42 million likes, while the official one has over 400,000 likes. The Organizing for Action, a nonprofit 501c4 organization, runs the personal FB page.
In his first post for the POTUS FB page, the president wrote a four-paragraph messages where he says he hopes to have real conversations about the most important issues facing the U.S. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg welcomed Obama with the message: "Excited for you to have your very own Page - and looking forward to the conversation (and the just-for-fun stuff).
But the tech website notes that what the president posts in his personal FB page is also posted in the POTUS page. But the POTUS page will be passed on to the next White House resident.
However, Obama posted some throwback photos in the POTUS page, including swearing in photos in 2009 and 2013.
CNN reports that his first real post in the POTUS page, a video showing him walking on the White House yard, is on climate change, an issue close to Obama's heart. While walking through the back yard, he asks Americans to "preserve this beautiful planet of ours."
He adds that he wants his successor and future presidents to be able to take walks like what he does. At the same time, Obama also states that he wants American to enjoy the country's incredible national parks, mountains and oceans that the country is blessed with which he considers "one of the greatest gifts we've ever received."