This week Mashable reported that Lady Gaga beat President Obama to 10 million Facebook fans. Big surprise? Not really. No president has had a number one record since… well ever. What is interesting is that the president remains so close in Facebook fans to Lady Gaga. It speaks to two distinct points: the value that the White House places on the use of social media, the culture of celebrity that attaches itself to American presidents.

The Obama campaign was notable for its use of social media. My.barackobama.com was a game-changing campaign tool. It decentralized organizing ability to local levels, brought Americans together, and successfully converted interest into action. Since the election my.barackobama.com has been converted into Organizing for America. Additionally, Democrats have continued to drive their social media presence. Partially this reflects a media reality in which increasing numbers of people around the world get their news online and through social media, but also the importance that the Obama Democrats continue to place on social media during the mid-term. Their success is notable. Though the president continues to be buffeted by criticisms about the BP spill, his handling of the economic crisis and wars overseas, his fan-count is second only to the current darling of pop music. It’s especially notable because of the strength that social media can give to detractors, and let’s not kid ourselves, the GOP have not been slouches online. Let’s set something straight, no pop star could ever have the negatives of a sitting president, so for a president—any president—to be this close in popularity a pop star speaks to the importance placed the Democrats upon driving social media.

The culture of celebrity that attaches itself to American presidents is nothing new. I will leave this debate to historians and cultural theorists, but most people would agree that John Kennedy was the first celebrity president, and presidential celebrity has only increased since then. You only need to take a look at the number of magazine covers that Lyndon Johnson was on and compare it to the number of covers that Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton has appeared on to see the veracity of this claim. The Obama fan count—which has reached 10 million during this week—is proof that this trend continues. Indeed, the president has more Facebook fans than a lot of celebs. The Oprah Winfrey Show has 1.6 million fans, Twilight has 4.6 million… and Mike Huckabee has 287,327 fans. The president’s fan count is in the absolute upper echelon of Facebook fan counts.

The translation of celebrity into social media popularity is unsurprising. In addition to presidential celebrity, the president’s fan count has been further increased by the Democrats ongoing commitment to social media. At the moment the ask presented by the Obama Facebook page is only to “like” the page and “stay in touch.” With the next election still two years off it will be interesting to see is how well this social media popularity can be translated into more significant asks such as fundraising dollars, volunteer hours and ultimately into votes.