George W. Bush joins Facebook, gets criticized for impersonal posts

Former US president George W. Bush is apparently the latest world leader to opt into social media by joining the continually burgeoning online community of Facebook, but has left many people wanting more personal interaction. Just before 9:30pm (Philippine Time) yesterday, the profile George W. Bush was created on Facebook. Although the profile has not yet been directly authenticated, it has nevertheless drawn almost 58,000 likes within the first 15 hours of its existence. Mixed reactions Reception to the "George W. Bush" profile has been expectedly mixed, with criticisms interspersed amidst the accolades and welcome messages: "Although I couldn't disagree more with your ideology and I think your presidency did great damage to this country, I have to commend you for being so respectfully silent once you left office, as is customary," wrote Facebook user Janet Burke. "Sir, although I disagreed with some of your decisions, I want you to know that I understand you had a lot on your plate," commented Terry Smith. Others, however, were not as reserved in their criticism: "I'm not surprised to see you here. It's another attempt to enrich yourselves and sell more lies to the American people. Aren't you proud Mr. President? You and Mr. Cheney and your neocon friends are responsible for the economic crisis we're still in AND the crimes committed by your pals in the oil business. There is nothing you can do Mr. President to redeem yourself," posted Victoria Satta. "Hey George, what u been up to? Have you bankrupted any more countries, companies or baseball teams lately?" wrote Kayvan Khatami. "Thanks for ruining the country, running up the debt and going on tour near election time! Oh and thanks for making stupidity popular!" said Vlad Falevich. 'Not first person' Many commenters have also criticized the page for the seemingly impersonal and detached way in which it is being handled. As of press time, the profile contained just two profile pictures and two posts —both of which were written in the third person. The first post is a brief overview of the former president's activities since stepping down from office, while the second post is a promotion of his wife Laura Bush's memoir, "Spoken From the Heart." "I hope you all realise that this isn't actually George and that he doesn't actually run it? Notice on the page that shows just the page's posts, it refers to George as The President, therefore not first person," wrote Jason Trufc Derrick. "It is pretty obvious that it's not George himself. I don't think he would have the time to be on Facebook though it would be fun to hear his sentiments now. It's most definitely a staffer of some sort," opined Jimmy S. Chen. Other world readers who only recently began to utilize social media include Bill Gates and the Dalai Lama, both of whom joined Twitter just this year. - GMANews.TV