Tweeters or Twits? Gadget fad takes hold

They use the tools to chat and publicise their activities with supporters. Reporters have even interviewed them through these social networking sites.

Some of the famous "tweeters" are leading politicians and those among the Democrats include Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva (his fan club registered for him), Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij, Deputy Prime Minister Korbsak Sabhavasu, PM's adviser Apirak Kosayodhin, and PM's Office Minister Satit Wongnongtaey. Earlier, the Democrats' tech-smart team had chatted via BlackBerry Messenger.

And no great surprise, even that great fan of mod cons, Thaksin Shinawatra, has jumped on the band-wagon. The ousted PM marked his 60th birthday with an official launch of Twitter and Facebook accounts to keep in touch with as many support-ers as possible. And despite just a brief stint tweeting, the former tele-com tycoon won the title of "Mr Twitter of Thailand" and is leading in a competition for "Mr Twitter of Asia".

But how long before these politi-cians get tired of the social network bug?

President Obama hasn't tweeted once since being sworn into office. Some think Obama supporters have been "pumped and dumped" now the election is over. Others believe that as president Obama has been restricted because of federal restric-tions on presidential communica-tions.

In similar vein, the tech-savvy Abhisit has had an account on Hi5 for years but since he became PM he's been too busy to update the site. Now, his staff do updates for him, including his Twitter.

Unlike their boss, Korn, Korbsak, and Satit seemed to be more active with these gadgets. They are regular users of the social network sites. Korn sometimes tweets by himself but sometimes aides type for him. Korn could be the most active tweet-er among this lot. He tweets both about his work and daily life. Wherever he goes, he has been spot-ted by reporters taking pictures and posting them on his twitter. It now has many exclusive pics.

If you want to see them, you won't be disappointed. For example, one from a Cabinet meeting room; anoth-er shows Abhisit blowing out candles on his birthday cake. Pictures of Korn and his family were also posted.

Korn sent a note from a press con-ference about the government's first six months, and when the Senate passed an executive decree for Bt400 billion worth of loans. The lanky finance minister seems to enjoys tweeting and posting pictures, while Korbsak uses a micro blog to update folk about what he does.

Let's hope politicians don't regard these posts as part of their achieve-ments. It's hardly what they're expected to do.

piyanart@nationgroup.com