The fringe benefits of Obama’s Tumblr feed shows the President is on top of social media

U.S. President Barack Obama makes light of his wife Michelle Obama's new bangs with a mock pictures of himself with the same hairdo in this humorous photo created by the White House shown at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Was (Reuters)

The Obama administration might struggle with the US houses of governments over issues such as the economy and firearms, but there is one area that it remains on top: social media.

The White House has just unveiled its latest effort to reach the media-savvy: its own Tumblr.

A statement on the microblog and social network promises to “post things like the best quotes from President Obama, or video of young scientists visiting the White House for the science fair, or photos of adorable moments with Bo (the family dog)”.

It’s early days, but Obama’s team is already showing up Downing Street’s failings. So far, the site just has a picture of all five living Presidents together, and one of Barack with wife Michelle’s fringe, part of a joke at the Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, and a hand-drawn graph or “wonky chart”, but it is already looking like a slick operation.

As the Obamas were showing how it is done, David Cameron’s Twitter feed showed how badly in need of a vanity photographer it was. A recent post included a poor-quality picture of the PM laying bricks with “Phil” the builder, where you could see no faces.

That sort of fail would never make it onto whitehouse.tumblr.com