The page promises news, behind-the-scenes photos and videos plus opportunities to engage with administration officials via Hangouts. Shortly after going live Friday morning, around 700 people had the page in their Circles. The move is the latest vote of confidence for the Google-owned social network, which has now has 90 million users. Other recent entities to join Google+ of late include Lady Gaga, who got a G+ page earlier this week. At press time, about 53,000 people had Gaga in their Circles. The pop star has more than 46 million fans on Facebook.
The White House's Facebook Page, meanwhile, boasts 1.2 million fans. President Obama has 24.6 million fans on Facebook. About 264,000 people have Obama in their Circles on Google+.
The White House's embrace of Google+ comes as Election Day is a little more than nine months away. The Obama Administration's use of social media in the current election will be closely watched since Obama won the 2008 Presidential Election in part because of his campaign's savvy use of Facebook and Twitter, among other platforms. The President also held a Town Hall with Twitter last June and another on Facebook in April. Obama's administration has also used the White House as social media hub. The entity launched a successful Twitter campaign aimed at influencing the payroll tax debate in December and was Obama's platform of choice to respond to an anti-SOPA petition this month.
Meanwhile, GOP candidates Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich all have Google+ pages, though it appears that the Google-challenged Rick Santorum does not.