Canada joined Twitter today, and it did it in the best way possible. Whoever's running the official @Canada account could have said "sorry" for being late to the party, but instead the country that spawned Mike Myers, Dan Aykroyd, and Ryan Reynolds played to its strengths and decided to laugh at itself.
.@Canada's now on Twitter, eh! pic.twitter.com/OQAAYohuwL
— Canada (@Canada) November 26, 2014
Of course, Canada couldn't join Twitter without also creating a French language account that mirrors @Canada's English tweets.
.@AuCanada est maintenant sur Twitter, Ouais! http://t.co/B5fXknKf92 pic.twitter.com/GyLS4lbReA
— Au Canada (@AuCanada) November 26, 2014
Official country Twitter accounts usually differ from governmental accounts. They're largely used to promote tourism, and tend to avoid politics altogether. In fact, very few countries have official Twitter accounts, so it looks like Canada has just joined the exclusive ranks of countries such as @GreatBritain, @Israel, @SouthAfrica, and @Sweden — the last of which started handing the account over to a different Swedish citizen every week in 2011, with mixed results.
Canada has only published three tweets so far, so it's hard to tell what direction the account will take. But from what we can tell, it looks like the Canadian account won't stick to self-deprecating jokes for long. Already, @Canada has tweeted about how the account will serve as a "shop window for everything that makes Canada the best country in the world." Still, that first tweet was both endearing and social media savvy, so we're willing to let this one slide. Welcome to Twitter, Canada.
Update November 26th, 2:21PM: Canada subtweeted us.
.@Canada does not apologize for this new Twitter account. #sorrynotsorry
— Canada (@Canada) November 26, 2014