The White House on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace

In continuing to define "Government 2.0," the Obama administration has created a presence on the social networking sites Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. This latest move is in keeping with the BlackBerry-touting president's image as a new politician for a new generation. White House 2.0 will be fed in real time by updates from WhiteHouse.gov, the official Web site of the White House.

According to AFP, the Facebook page had more than 60,000 fans, the MySpace page had more than 8,000 friends, and more than 14,500 followers were subscribed to the tweets.

The White House blog proclaimed, "Technology has profoundly impacted how – and where – we all consume information and communicate with one another. WhiteHouse.gov is an important part of the administration's effort to use the Internet to reach the public quickly and effectively – but it isn't the only place."

Although the social network participation is an invitation to the public to keep an eye on the work of the president, there are those who question the true amount of transparency the sites will exhibit. CSMonitor.com suggested a webcam in the Oval Office with a weekly opportunity for the president to field questions from the masses.

White House Director of New Media Macon Phillips said that although the administration will not reply to individual comments left on the sites, "People who join these groups can speak to one another, and we can see what they're saying."

President Obama has a separate Facebook profile that is maintained by the Democratic National Committee.