Facebook is in talks to hire Robert Gibbs, President Obama?s former White House press secretary, for a senior role in helping to manage the company?s communications, people briefed on the negotiations said. Facebook is seeking out Gibbs ahead of an IPO planned for early 2012, these people said. Robert Gibbs left the White House in February after two years on the job. The talks are still at an early stage and no formal offer has been made, these people said, warning that it remained possible the discussions could collapse. Gibbs, who left the White House in February after two years on the job, had been planning to help establish President Obama?s re-election campaign before taking a private sector job, these people said.