Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Social Media
  3. News

Swedish government allows citizens to take over official Twitter account

Mike Flacy
By
Sweden_flag
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Announced earlier this week, the Swedish tourism agency lobbied and convinced Sweden’s government to turn over access to the official @Sweden Twitter account to citizens. Called the ‘Curators of Sweden‘ project, the official Twitter account is turned over to a new citizen each week. That person can alter the current avatar and tweet about anything they want for seven days. However, the citizen is encouraged to tweet about places and things to do in Sweden as well as answer questions about life in Sweden. Interested parties do not need a Twitter account to keep up with the most recent tweets or the current Swedish citizen on the account as both can be found on the Curators of Sweden site. 

sweden-twitterThe official @Sweden Twitter account has previously been updated by the tourism ministry since creation of the account during 2009. According to VisitSweden CEO Thomas Brühl, he stated “No one owns the brand of Sweden more than its people. With this initiative, we let them show their Sweden to the world. I’ve always enjoyed to show tourists my Sweden and to be able to do it on Twitter feels like a fun and natural step.” The first citizen tweeting from the account is Jack Warner who is described as a “a self-employed writer, marketer and lecturer on social media and web culture.” Warner has been very active in responding to Twitter replies during the first week of the project and has posted pictures from various locations using Instagram.

Recommended Videos

Upcoming Swedish citizens that will be tweeting from the official account include a teacher, a priest, an editorial writer, a coffee-drinking trucker lesbian and an ad agency founder who owns his own farm. There’s no end date set for the experiment and will likely continue for at least the next two months.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mike Flacy
Mike Flacy
Contributing Editor
By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…
Many Twitter accounts could soon lose blue checkmarks
Twitter Blue menu option on a white screen background which is on a black background.

If your Twitter profile page currently displays a blue checkmark and you’re not planning to subscribe to Twitter Blue, expect to lose the mark before too long.

Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, said on Monday that “all legacy blue checks” will be removed “in a few months,” adding that the way they were given out was “corrupt and nonsensical.”

Read more
Elon Musk says Twitter character limit will increase hugely
Twitter logo in white stacked on top of a blue stylized background with the Twitter logo repeating in shades of blue.

Elon Musk, the man who bought Twitter for $44 billion at the end of October, says the social media platform is planning to up the limit for tweets to 4,000 characters, a significant increase on the current 280-character limit.

Responding to an inquiry on Twitter from someone asking if it’s true "that Twitter is set to increase the characters from 280 to 4000," Musk replied, “Yes,” but declined to offer any additional information, such as when the change will take place. It's also unclear as to whether longer tweets will only be available to subscribers of Twitter Blue, Twitter's premium tier that's set to relaunch sign-ups on Monday.

Read more
Twitter to revamp verified accounts with a new label
A stylized composite of the Twitter logo.

Twitter’s been in a bit of a state since Elon Musk closed a $44 billion deal to buy it last month.

Confusion over how the platform will proceed and workforce anger over mass layoffs has left some in the Twitter community looking for an alternative microblogging app that might offer a bit of tranquility away from all the hubbub.

Read more