White House taps social technology to reinforce message to Muslims

President Barack Obama in Egypt told Muslims he wants to engage them and their countries. More than 5,000 miles away, US administration officials sent notes to supporters -- and critics -- via Web sites Twitter, Facebook and text messages to reinforce the point. Obama's speech Thursday was an illustration of the administration's aggressive strategy to work the Web to enhance the White House's message. A flurry of messages flooded the Internet, as the White House's Twitter feed and Facebook page posted highlights while Obama was still speaking and the State Department sent free text messages about the speech. "Our goal is to ensure that the greatest number of people with an interest to see this -- not just through newspapers and television -- but can see this through Web sites. ... The Internet team here is working with a host of others to get this information to as many platforms as humanly possible so that people will get a chance all over the world to see what the president has to say," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.