Administration leverages social media services

A photograph posted by the White House on its Flickr account shows President Barack Obama working in the Oval Office, with an iPad 2 (complete with gray Smart Cover) by his side. The photo was taken on the same day that the president announced to the nation that terrorist Osama Bin Laden had been killed during a firefight, and showcases the 2010 makeover of the Oval Office, which was privately funded to give a more comfortable, modern look to the historic room.

President Obama personally uses a range of technological devices, and had previously acknowledged that he had an iPad (though he continues to prefer a Blackberry for his smartphone), as well as a MacBook Pro and various other iOS devices. It's also known that his children have their own MacBooks. Obama once famously gave Queen Elizabeth II an iPod pre-loaded with Broadway songs and video footage of her 2007 visit to the U.S. as a gift.

Recent U.S. presidents and their administrations have had to become more technologically adept as portable computing devices and social network services have risen to dominate the technology landscape. While the Obama administration has leveraged social services like Flickr, Twitter and Facebook to great effect, they build on the efforts of previous administrations to incorporate technology into the tradition-bound practices of the White House and executive branch.

The picture below has been cropped to show the presence of the iPad 2 more clearly.

by MacNN Staff