Twitter emerges on Washington front line

Twitter has become a front line of the debate on raising America’s debt ceiling, as the official account of President Barack Obama on July 29 began sending out the Twitter names of every Republican member in Congress.

Frustrated citizens have also used the social media service to vent their frustration with Washington, even as politicians rally supporters with regular tweets. A typical message from @BarackObama on Friday read: “Utah voters: Tweet @OrrinHatch and @SenMikeLee and ask them to compromise on a balanced deficit solution.” The messages went to the presidential account’s more than 9.3m followers. However, there were mixed indications about the campaign’s effectiveness. According to one Twitter user who claimed to have monitored the account, the president lost at least 10,000 followers during the course of the day.