Obama press chief joins Twitter - but why?
Updated on 17 February 2010
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has finally sent his first tweet and it is all part of a new communications strategy by the Obama administration.
From a White House administration widely hailed as the "most wired" ever, a press secretary who has only now discovered the joys of Twitter.
Robert Gibbs penned his first 140 character message on Saturday, declaring: "Learning about 'the twitter' - easing into this with first tweet - any tips?"
He has already attracted thousands of followers, more than 17,000 at the last count.
In fact, the director of new media at the White House only got on board with Twitter last week.
A hint of why he came back in July, when Mr Gibbs told C-Span's Washington Journal that the instant messaging service was not welcome at work.
That might explain why unlike the blogosphere, Twitter has been dominated by conservatives and Republicans for months: they used it, to great effect, to help organise opposition to President Obama's health care reforms.
So the Democrats are left playing catch-up,and all of this new White House tweeting isn't just an effort to get on-trend and "down with the kids".
It is part of a whole new communications strategy as revealed to the Washington Post - to hit back at its political opponents much faster.
Staff were said to be concerned that the central message, indeed any message at all, was being subsumed by constant Republican attacks and the long drawn out wrangles in Congress.
With Obama trying to do so much, so fast, his top advisor David Axelrod admitted that "it's easy to lose the forest for the trees - there was some of that, yes".
The answer: to recapture the magic of the 2008 election campaign, while becoming more disciplined, and more aggressive with spin.
Back in those heady campaign days "we ran everything through one strategic filter, how does this help us win the election?" White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer, told AP.
He added: "Anything that didn't help us do that, we didn't do."
So Robert Gibbs is now issuing instant tweets to reporters, correcting what he sees as misunderstandings and making extra points.
"This is an environment that calls for sharper communication," he said.
And President Obama's team have decided his time is to be used "more effectively".
That means more public events, without the filter of the media, from town hall meetings to more Q and A sessions through online sites like Youtube.
Expect too, more carefully arranged press and television interviews, rather than the free-for-all of a press conference.
