The department's first entry into Arabic language micro-blogging appeared on Twitter early Wednesday. It's a post saying that Washington recognizes the "historic role" of social media in the Arab world. "We want to be in your conversation," it said.
The next posts reiterated President Barack Obama's stance that only Egyptians can decide their future and summarized Vice President Joe Biden's Tuesday call to Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman.
The Twitter account is "USA bilAraby," which means "USA in Arabic." It had 40 followers within hours of appearing.
Meanwhile, an aide to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed Syria's decision to give its people direct access to Facebook and You Tube, but voiced fears that users would run risks without freedom of expression.
In Damascus, Internet users said that for the first time since 2007, Syrians could directly log onto Facebook and YouTube without going through proxy servers abroad.
