W.H. press official Burton joins Twitter

Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton appears to have joined Twitter under the handle @billburton44. Before taking his White House post, Burton served as national press secretary on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

@billburton44 has not tweeted yet and has 28 followers, including some members of the White House press corps. The account has no bio and has not been verified by Twitter, meaning the microblogging site has not confirmed that the account is actually operated by Burton.

Burton’s appearance on Twitter comes soon after White House Press Secretaty Robert Gibbs told C-SPAN that Twitter was banned in the White House. Burton was the one who clarified Gibbs’ remarks, saying that the White House new media team is, in fact, permitted to tweet on White House computers.