Hugo Chavez Is Running Venezuela Through Twitter

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is using Twitter as a tool to govern his country remotely from Cuba, as he undergoes medical treatments. He has tweeted more than 40 times since Monday, issuing orders for building a new park and approving the funding of a trash collection project.

When I wrote a speculative piece about how someone could run a country using only Twitter, I didn’t think I’d actually see it happen. I hypothesized that a lot could be done without having to go beyond 140-characters: elections could be held, platforms tweeted, pictures of meetings with other heads of state posted, and even criminals could be caught with Twitter.