White House chief digital officer Jason Goldman pitched the new Facebook messaging feature Wednesday as a way for the administration to "meet people where they are" online.

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The new feature relies on a chatbot that simulates a conversation but doesn't directly respond to questions. Instead, it guides users through sending feedback to the administration.

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But the actual process of using the White House chatbot feels more labor intensive than another digital messaging option available to citizens since 1994: email.

Sending an email to the White House is pretty straightforward: There is a basic contact form you fill out and then submit.

The chatbot is more complicated.

Once this reporter opened the messenger window to ask a simple question — "Are there any plans to allow people to 'poke' the White House on Facebook?" — I first had to click the "Let's Go!" button after waiting for the chatbot to say hello.

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After a few minutes, the bot repeated my question back to me to confirm it was all I wanted to send. Then it asked me for my contact information over the course of five questions — with lag time between each. Then it asked me to confirm my contact information after I handed it over.

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The runaround took about 10 minutes — significantly longer than if I'd just submitted the same question through the White House's email form. But at least the White House Facebook bot did end our exchange with a smiley face emoji.