White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

Pope Sends First Tweet

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It looks like you can teach an 84-year-old a new trick. Pope Benedict XVI launched the Vatican’s news information portal via Twitter on Tuesday using, what else? An iPad.

This is the latest in a series of moves from the Vatican to improve communication both internally and with the public. But don’t be fooled by all the “Benedictus” handles on Twitter, the Pope does not have a personal account. The papal tweet was sent from @news_va_en.

Check out the pontiff working the touch screen in this video released on the Vatican’s YouTube Channel. Yes, the Vatican’s been on YT since 2005.

uWatch More on iPad

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If you’re watching the above video while on a laptop or desktop, you’re in a minority.

BusinessWeek rounds up the data that more people watch video on mobile devices like tablets or their phone than if they were in front of a computer. What’s the appeal?

“Because mobile devices are slower, so if you take the trouble to find a web video, you’re likely to stick around. Also, because mobile devices don’t have big screens or multitasking, viewers are pretty locked into what they are watching.”

It may not be mobile television, but with the ABC iPad app you can further expect congested Metro trips and visits to the capitol to become more dependent on Apple’s tablet, as WHC Insider previously suggested.

Fingers crossed that the ABC app does well enough to encourage the biggest D.C. wonk app: the CSPAN app.