Robert Gibbs To Be The Hall Monitor Of Press Corps Twitters?

I’m fairly certain that at some point this is going to end in tears. Regular watchers of the White House will likely already be aware that both deputy press secretary Bill Burton and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs are now on Twitter.

Burton made a quiet entry into 140 character land during the Christmas holidays, and has since amassed 4000 or so followers. Roberts Gibbs’ arrival on Saturday, it will probably not surprise you, was somewhat more splashy — in just over a day he clocked in 17,000 followers (he now has 21,000-plus): “watch out Kim Kardashian!”

Who wants to start placing bets on how long it is before Gibbs creates a national incident with that Twitter feed? Two weeks? A month? In the meantime, Michael Calderone reports, the White House is using their new presence in Twitter land to keep a sharp eye on what politcal journos are reporting.

Gibbs told POLITICO that he was inspired to join after watching Burton’s account during President Barack Obama’s surprise visit to the White House briefing room last Tuesday.

Burton could see that reporters were having non-news related side conversations over Twitter and chastised them for not focusing on the president. Gibbs said it was “fascinating to see what people are thinking, writing, doing in real time.”

Sounds a lot like they are positioning themselves as Twitter hall monitors! Let’s hope it’s not quite so boring as all that. There is also the assumption they will (and in Burton’s case, have) use Twitter to quickly push back on stories they disagree with. How this will pan out exactly in real time should be interesting to see: Gibbs’ first press briefing as a Twitterer is today. To tweet or not to tweet?

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