@ThisIsVt, Vermonters Taking Turns on Twitter

When Sweden handed the keys to its national Twitter account, @Sweden, to private citizens late last year, it accumulated tens of thousands of followers from around the globe who read — and occasionally wince — as one uncensored Swede after another tweets about his or her daily life for a week. The Vermont tourism department was watching, too. And at a brainstorming session this month, its employees wondered if Vermont could follow Sweden’s lead, creating a Twitter account to be used each week by a different Vermonter. So on July 23, less than three weeks after that first meeting, the department fired up a feed called @ThisIsVt, as well as a Web site where Vermonters can nominate one another (or themselves) to be the state’s Twitterati.