Twitter Blocked In White House

Twitter may not have as many friends in high places as its fans imagined.  Robert Gibbs recently let slip that Twitter is blocked on White House computers.

This news seems a bit odd, considering that the BarackObama Twitter account was used so much prior to the election, and that it still gets the occasional update.  There’s an official whitehouse account that sees a fair amount of action, as well.

But White House Press Secretary Gibbs said during a C-SPAN interview, “Twitter is blocked on White House computers,” and given his job description, he’s liable to be pretty well informed on the matter.

Gibbs also sort of pooh-poohed the idea of famous people using Twitter, explaining why he personally doesn’t have an account by saying, “I’m on camera enough that people have a decent sense of what I’m doing minus Twittering.”

These remarks don’t represent the end of Twitter’s world, of course.  Still, given how much widespread government use might have helped the company, it’s not great news that things have taken a turn in the opposite direction with an official block at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in place.