The UK Prime Minister David Cameron has set off in the footsteps of Twitter favourites Stephen Fry and will.i.am by setting up the first ever UK Prime Minister’s Twitter account on Saturday, and in the time since then the PM has amassed a whopping 92,000 (and growing rapidly) followers.
The PM registered the @david_cameron account on Saturday and in this time Mr Cameron has tweeted 5 times, with his first tweet reading:
“I’m starting Conference with this new Twitter feed about my role as Conservative Leader. I promise there won’t be “too many tweets…””
The first tweet is in reference to a 2009 interview with the Christian O’Connell breakfast show where David spoke about Twitter and said: “The trouble with Twitter, the instant-ness of it… I think that too many twits might make a tw*t.”
So far Cameron has used his Twitter account to tell people what he is doing and to promote appearances at events, and yesterday the PM took the time to big up his Conservative leader predecessor William Hague by stating “An excellent speech from @WilliamJHague. Britain will take tough action against illegal arms trade and sexual violence.”
In terms of following, the PM has so far followed fellow conservatives Boris Johnson (who wouldn’t?), foreign secretary William Hague, health secretary Jeremy Hunt and the official Conservative Party account.
Unsurprisingly the use of Twitter has sparked many a user to link to the PM with direct comments and thoughts, so if indeed Mr Cameron is using the feed himself he will surely need to develop a thick skin.
Cameron is also on LinkedIn, Foursquare, Facebook, and Flickr, so the Twitter account is just the latest in a long line of social media accounts, but with the “instant-ness” of Twitter being a big issue will the PM like his tweeting experience?
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