Global General

Chavez takes to Twitter to fight critics online

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-04-29 08:55

Chavez takes to Twitter to fight critics online

In this photo taken April 8, 2010, Nelson Bocaranda,a radio program host and one of Venezuela's most popular Twitter users, taps on his blackberry at the Onda 107.9 FM studios in Caracas. [Agencies]

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez has joined the ranks of those who say, "If you can't beat 'em, tweet 'em."

The president made a revolutionary move Wednesday, sending his first message from a Twitter account where his missives are limited to 140 characters.

"Hey how's it going? I appeared like I said I would: at midnight. I'm off to Brazil. And very happy to work for Venezuela. We will be victorious!!" it read.

Already, the president's Twitter account, "chavezcandanga," is headed toward the top of Venezuela's most-popular list, gaining more than 64,000 followers just 24 hours after it was created.

"The opposition thinks it owns the social networking sites. They think Twitter and Facebook belong to them," said Diosdado Cabello, head of the state-run telecommunications regulator.

"We're fighting and there are 7 million of us who will have Twitter," Cabello added, referring to members of Chavez's socialist party, adding that their tweets would carry messages "from our commander."

More than 8.7 million Venezuelans were regular Internet users as of January, or about 30 percent of the population, up from 25 percent in 2008, according to Tendencias Digitales.

Some 350,000 of those user were registered on Twitter, a tenfold increase from 2009. More than 5.4 million Venezuelans were registered as Facebook users, double those in the previous year.