You Can Now Tell Barack Obama Exactly How You’re Feeling via Text Message

Former President Barack Obama appeared to open up lines of communication to the public on Tuesday when he tweeted out a phone number with a Chicago area code asking how people were doing and what they were thinking about the election. . .

All right, let's try something new. If you’re in the United States, send me a text at 773-365-9687 — I want to hear how you're doing, what's on your mind, and how you're planning on voting this year.

I'll be in touch from time to time to share what's on my mind, too. pic.twitter.com/NX91bSqbtG

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 23, 2020

A simple test text to the number yielded an invitation to join Community.com, a service that enables celebrities and other high-profile personalities like former presidents to broadcast messages under the guise of personal conversations. The service was popular with lots of people who drew in fans via popular videos on social media as well as actor Ashton Kutcher, Diddy, Paul McCartney, and former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau.

Community is a tech startup that launched in early 2019 after raising $35 million. They stated their mission as wanting to connect stars, athletes, and other high-profile personalities with their fans in the vein of Twitter’s earliest days before it was invaded by swarms of bots and trolls. Earlier this year, Community said it was not working with politicians; clearly, things have changed.

The initial automated response from Obama shared a hopeful message of keeping in touch and promising to share what he was thinking.

“Hey! It’s Barack,” the message read. “Click the link to sign up so I can respond directly to you. I won’t be able to get to everything, but I’ll be in touch to share what’s on my mind and I want to hear from you, too. Let’s do this.” (Read more from “You Can Now Tell Barack Obama Exactly How You’re Feeling via Text Message” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE