Obama Can Be Contacted via Messenger

Now Facebook users are able to contact Mr President via Messenger using a chatbot.
The bot asks for your message, gives you an option to proofread it before sending, and finally asks for your mailing address and phone number.
After your information have been confirmed, the bot sends you a reply with a clip from a 2009 video of Obama speaking about letters from the public. It must be remembered that the bot will not respond if you try to type an answer to its yes-or-no questions instead of clicking the buttons.

Previously, citizens could leave a message for the president by phone, email or letter. Now the White House offers the newest, most tech-savvy way to do it. Facebook confirms that using Messenger bots is a new and popular way for organizations to tell users about news, weather and other topics. In July, there were more than 11,000 chatbots in Messenger, and Facebook offers a guide to help make your own. Facebook’s bots are quite appealing because they allow brands and pages interact with users from inside the chat environment many people are already addicted to.

The company unveiled bots in Messenger only in 2016, but the idea has been developing for a while – if you used AOL Instant Messenger in early 2000s, you probably remember the SmarterChild bot which answered questions in a conversational tone and was widely used to respond to teens testing out cursing. Today, many services offer such bots, including customer service bots and Twitter bots. In addition, a recent program, called “the world’s first robot lawyer”, made an attempt to take on legal issues like parking tickets or homelessness in a chat-like interface.

The technical experts warm that the White House bot can have some of the same problems as other bots on the Messenger platform – including spammy messages or an inability to unsubscribe. In the meantime, Obama has been active on many modes of social media aside from Facebook and Messenger – he recently dropped his summer 2016 playlist under the Twitter handle POTUS. The White House also has its own Snapchat account, where it published a message giving instructions on how to message the president on Facebook.

The news of the White House chatbot was also posted on Facebook. Despite the private messaging feature, over 1,000 people have already left public comments on the post, addressing Obama.
Sourced from torrentfreak

Number of useful messages containing constructive criticism received: 0

Number of hateful, racist messages received from drunken, knuckle dragging red necks with their cars parked on their front lawn: 600,782,273,283,383. LOL

But really this is just another way of collecting personal data.So please tell me the logic in asking people for their Name and telephone number.. It's a data collection exercise.

You want to communicate with someone on Facebook, you have a name and form of contact.
So when the President leaves office does he keep that Facebook account? Or does the White House keep it?
If he gets to keep it, how can he help, once he is out of office. If the White House gets to keep it, it just cements my point.

Just ridiculous in my books, is ok to use automated bots to reply to instant messages when Offline, the bot just reads the questions and find possible queried answer or constructions of of letters to answer the question. it just like talking to a computer because you will not be talking to the President directly but an automated President Computer instead. This technology is 1999 stuff.

This is just another way for the Department of Defense(D.O.D)to collect personal data from unsuspecting citizens in the state. I best the president will not even wastes 1 seconds of his 8 year term in office to look at this stupid crap.