From the White House to Facebook

The New York Times reported this past weekend that former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs might take on a new role of managing the communication operations at Facebook (News - Alert). What will the hiring of a connected politician mean for the future of Facebook?

It almost seems like once you leave the White House, you go straight to a job at a technology firm. According to a story in the Washington Post, while trying to get a grip on Gibbs, Facebook recently hired Marne Levine, a former White House economic official. Also, Google (News - Alert) just recently hired Jared Cohen, the former State Department’s social media contact. Al Gore, former presidential candidate, is on the board of directors at Apple (News - Alert), as well as a senior adviser to Google. Twitter also recently hired former White House and State Department staffer Katie Stanton.

What similarities do politics and social media share? Well for one thing, social media networking sites like Facebook continue to remain under the microscope as constantly changed privacy settings continue to raise multiple concerns. With a distinguished politician’s face under the company’s belt, they might not be scrutinized as thoroughly in the future. Second, politicians are used to making speeches that are written to specifically win over votes to fight for their cause—this expertise can only help social media sites gain the recognition they rightfully deserve.

“These companies are at the crosshairs of privacy and policy issues and they see people in the White House and federal government as protectors of their plans to expand into new markets,” said Jeffrey Chester, an online privacy advocate and executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, in a statement. “These are uber influence-makers they are hiring.”

Gibbs for example, has already had to defend President Obama in many different arenas regarding various subjects, why wouldn’t he be the perfect choice to defend Facebook against further legislation?