Welcome to the Blogosphere, White House Blog

The Obama Administration has taken over the White House, and with it the www.whitehouse.gov website.  Consistent with the earlier campaign’s internet-focus, visitors will find a front-page link to a new blog, The White House Blog.  Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House, already has a post up, Change has come to WhiteHouse.Gov, which introduces the new blog and other communications-related aspects of the new Obama Administration.  Government-run blogs have proved notoriously difficult to operate.  It’s really hard to thread the line between recycling press releases — which I’m hard pressed to see as a blog at all — versus true off-the-cuff, instant commentary, which often runs counter to a press office’s primary goal–staying on-message.  Still, I’d like to welcome the White House Blog to the blogosphere.  I look forward to seeing how they deal with this challenge and the content they provide in the weeks and months ahead.