Today, Jason Goldman, Chief Digital Officer of the White House, announced that the White House is open-sourcing a Drupal module that will enable Drupal 8 developers to quickly launch a Facebook Messenger bot. The goal, Goldman said, is to make it easier for citizens to message the President via Facebook. This is the first-ever government bot on Facebook messenger. "This new White House module will allow non-developers to create bot interactions (with customized language and workflows), and empower other governments and agencies who already use Drupal to power their digital experiences," Goldman wrote. Check out Goldman's blog post on whitehouse.gov. And the repository on GitHub. More from Goldman:
We’re open-sourcing this White House technology, with the hope that other governments and developers can build similar services—and foster similar connections with their citizens— with significantly less upfront investment. To be specific, we are open-sourcing a Drupal module, complete with easy steps and boiler plate code. This will enable Drupal 8 developers to quickly launch a Facebook Messenger bot. We also left a few lines in the repository describing our hopes for the future of the code and encouraging members of the developer community to get involved.
"Now, there is one less barrier to being more accessible and responsive to constituents," Goldman concludes. "We look forward to seeing what others build on top of this work."
