You can IM President Obama via Facebook Messenger

(White House)

The White House has a long tradition of opening every letter (and email) that it receives. And sometimes even the president will look at a few -- and respond.

Now you have one more way of contacting the White House and President Barack Obama: Facebook Messenger.

The White House announced Wednesday that it had enabled messaging on its Facebook account. Now anyone with Facebook or Facebook Messenger can ping the president.

"Every night, President Obama reads 10 letters that were sent to him by citizens. It has been a part of his daily routine since taking office in 2009," White House Chief Digital Officer Jason Goldman said in a post. "These 10 'letters a day' — or 10 LADs, as they're known to staff — do more to keep the President in touch with what's happening around the country than just about anything else. 'It ends up being a powerful motivator for me,' he has said."

Messenger says the White House account "Typically replies within minutes."

"The White House's Messenger bot, a first of its kind for any government the world over, will make it as easy as messaging your closest friends," Goldman said.