#BBCTrending: Canada's new Twitter feed pokes fun at Canada

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Canada has joined Twitter.

The country known to some uninformed outsiders as not being the United States has decided to create an overarching national identity on Twitter. Actually two: one in each of the country's official languages, French and English. The accounts have been mentioned on Twitter more than 20,000 times since they were launched this week.

Other national accounts, such as Ireland, have enlisted a rotating roster of citizen microbloggers to fill their feeds. Sweden's national tweeter, for instance, is currently a young Russian immigrant sharing her innermost thoughts about "sex, psychology, dancing, clothes she wears and student orchestras." You have been warned.

Canada, on the other hand, has chosen a more official approach - a kind of voice of the True North. That's not to say that Canada is above making fun of itself or its citizens, however - it announced itself with a reference to the country's famous verbal tic: "@Canada's now on Twitter, eh!"

Other tweets have sent up the Canadian penchant for apologising and a depiction of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on The Simpsons - alongside more serious references to the country's tourism industry and Ebola vaccine research.

It remains to be seen whether the jokey and the sober can sit comfortably side by side in the world of social media diplomacy. Earlier in the year a Twitter skirmish broke out when Canada's NATO delegation tweeted sarcastic advice to Russian soldiers "who keep getting lost".

It was illustrated by a map showing Russia and "Not Russia", aka Ukraine.

We've asked @Canada to comment on the possibility of future tweets about maple syrup and ice hockey. We'll update if they get back to us, eh?

Reporting by Mike Wendling

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