Obama's first 'tweet' for the aid of Haiti quake victims

US President Barack Obama `tweeted` his very first message, joining the millions who have used the Twitter micro-blogging site as a vital information vehicle for the Haiti disaster.

The president and First Lady Michelle Obama visited an unadorned office in the American Red Cross headquarters serving as a disaster operations centre, and lent encouragement to staff and volunteers helping coordinate humanitarian aid activity in earthquake-devastated Haiti.


"We`re just here to say `thank you` for the great work you`re doing," Obama said as he entered the operations centre with American Red Cross board chairwoman Bonnie McElveen-Hunter.

As he moved about the room, where large maps of Port-au-Prince were tacked to the walls, he stopped at a media team desk and hit the "Send" button on a message that had just been typed on Twitter: "President Obama and the First Lady are here visiting our disaster operation centre right now."

This was followed by: "President Obama pushed the button on the last tweet. It was his first ever tweet!"

During his presidential bid in 2007 and 2008, Obama`s team harnessed the power of the Internet to raise record funding for his campaign.

His administration, too, has been praised for its tech-savvy use of the web. Advertisement

Yuvraj the most tech-savvy and well-networked in the national cricket team,

Emboldened cricket fan Swati Jha asks the colourful Yuvraj Singh what he likes doing best apart from cricket and gets a mere smiley.

But at least it's a reply, something Indian fans would trade an arm or a leg for, because she's one of the 5,550 tweeters who follow Yuvraj Singh's posts on social networking site Twitter. And Yuvraj, perhaps the most tech-savvy and well-networked in the national cricket team, has not only been remarkably active on Twitter, but has learnt to use frequent tweets and prompt tweet-replies to keep in touch with fans.

"It has been a great way to connect with my fans," Yuvraj told MiD DAY recently. A devoted Tweeter, he says, "As kids, we wanted to know what our icons did off the field and found out only through media reports. But with these social networking sites, stars can now interact with fans directly... without the fear of being misquoted or misrepresented. It's definitely a safe and direct way to interact with fans."

The flamboyant left-hander gets suggestions, requests and some overwhelming tweets too, he says. One fan told him he'd watched his ICC World Cup T20 innings 500 times. "Wow, that's a lot of times," came the southpaw's quick response.

Yuvraj manages to respond to his fans' tweets three to four times a week. "Time is a big factor, but I have my Blackberry," says Yuvraj, who follows the activities of a smattering of Bollywood tweeters including Preity Zinta, Karan Johar, Gul Panag, Neil Nitin Mukesh and A R Rahman, as well as international sportspersons like Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Rafael Nadal and Sania Mirza.

The response from his fans has been fabulous. "They keep coming back to me," he says. "When I started, I had about 100 fans. The register has increased to thousands now."

Yuvraj also plays big brother to fans, occasionally. One fan tweeted about bunking classes to watch his superstar play.

The star bat's response was mildly admonishing. "Even we bunked school and college to watch games. Obviously it is not right," Yuvraj says. "I tell my fans on Twitter to do the right thing." Advertisement