President Obama and his staff are quite savvy when it comes to technology — and social media, in particular — so it's really no surprise that there is an account on popular photo-sharing service Instagram in Obama's name. That account was used to share a photo for the first time on Tuesday night, during the Iowa caucuses.
Instagram — which currently requires its members to use an iPhone app in order to post photos — offers a variety of "filters" which can be used to alter images' appearances. It also has options which allow users to easily post photos to a variety of social networks — such as Tumblr, Twitter, or Facebook — right as they upload them to Instagram.
According to the profile description on the @barackobama Instagram account, it is being "run by Obama 2012 staff" and invites people to "share a photo from the campaign trail" by using the #Obama2012 hashtag. (As an aside: Obama is known to be a BlackBerry fan, so we wonder if he'll actually use the currently iPhone-only photo-sharing service personally anytime soon. He'd have to head to an Apple Store or borrow a staff member's iPhone, after all.)
The first photo posted from Obama's Instagram account was, according to its caption, of the President speaking "via videoconference to Iowa caucus-goers" on Tuesday night. Links to the image were posted on Obama's official Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook accounts upon upload.
Neither this photo — nor the use of Instagram — mark the first time the President has kept up an active social media presence. He already has — and maintains, with the help of staff — accounts on sites and services such as Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, Twitter, Foursquare and more.
Related stories:
- Instagram photography app finally coming to Android
- White House rickrolls bored Twitter follower
- Obama joins Foursquare, isn't even mayor of Oval Office
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