I wonder if the US has the same policy? They should just abandon Twitter. In the end we would only be getting sanitized, PC bullcrap anyway. As for the last sentence:

Tangle of rules and procedures strangles federal government tweets

OTTAWA - Pity the poor government tweet, nearly strangled in its cradle before limping into the Twitterverse.

Newly disclosed documents from Industry Canada show how teams of bureaucrats often work for weeks to sanitize each lowly tweet, in a medium that's supposed to thrive on spontaneity and informality.

Most 140-character tweets issued by the department are planned weeks in advance; edited by dozens of public servants; reviewed and revised by the minister's staff; and sanitized through a 12-step protocol, the documents indicate.
..........
Public servants vet draft tweets for hashtags, syntax, policy compliance, retweeting, French translation and other factors. Policy generally precludes tweeting on weekends, and the minister's personal Twitter handle must be kept out of departmental tweets, though his name and title are often included.

The resulting tweets read like stiff public service announcements, such as this October example: "Browse the Mobile Protection Toolbox to learn facts & find #tips to protect yourself. #GetCyberSafe," with a link to the department's website.
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A social-media expert said Industry Canada suffers from a "risk averse" culture that is antithetical to Twitter.

"There are so many levels of bureaucracy, as we can see in this example, and so much fear and control," said consultant Mark Blevis, president of FullDuplex.ca in Ottawa.

"I've never seen anything like this in the private or public sector. ... They've really delineated the limits of the box. There's no entry for dialogue."
............
"You're imposing structure on a form of communication that inherently rejects structure," he said in an interview, on condition of anonymity to protect his job.

"We don't really know what we're supposed to be on Twitter."

He said he's seen proposed light-hearted tweets killed at birth because they don't fit the template.

"What's our problem with being lighthearted? Why do we have to be super-serious and boring, and dry all the time?"

Asked for comment, Industry Canada sent a response that echoed its own tweets, though longer than 140 characters:

"Industry Canada follows the Treasury Board Standard on Social Media Account Management, which aims to provide a strategic and coherent approach for the management of departmental social media accounts," said the email from Michel Cimpaye of media relations.

"This Standard supports Canada's commitment to open government and enables accuracy, greater information sharing, public dialogue and collaboration."

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/natio ... story.html

No wonder there's a rebellion going on in the Harper CONservative ranks.