Better late than never?
Just as his second term in office begins closing in, President Barack Obama on Monday finally created a personal Facebook page… and other users couldn’t “like” his account fast enough.
The POTUS racked up more than 45,000 followers in just the first hour of launching his page.
NPR notes that although this is the first page directly linked to Obama, the president has had a heavy Facebook presence for years – dating back to his 2008 campaign, in which he aggressively used social media to pull in supporters.
The White House also has its own Facebook page.
"Hello, Facebook! I finally got my very own page,” he wrote in his very first status update. He kept his “about” section clear and to the point, simply writing, “Dad, husband, and 44th President of the United States.”
BREAKING: @POTUS just launched his Facebook page! Take a walk with him in his backyard at https://t.co/Pq2X1BVaWU. pic.twitter.com/lo5Dc4IeO5
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 9, 2015
His first post included a short, two-minute video in which he strolled around the White House’s South Lawn, discussing the various "critters" he sees wandering around before getting to the bigger picture.
"I want to make sure that the beauty of this particular national park, but also national parks all across the country, and our planet, are going to be there for Malia, Sasha, their kids, their grandkids, for generations to come."
Obama's message came about a few days after he rejected the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline – citing climate concerns -- and one day before a United Nations climate summit. NPR notes that many environmental observers view that summit as “a critical moment in the global push to rein in carbon dioxide emissions.”
