It seems that @BarackObama stopped using Twitter as of his inauguration, but really, he only has 2 tweets since the election back in November.  (Yes, I know he has taken over the @TheWhiteHouse account, but even that only has a couple of tweets since he has taken the reigns)

I’d love to say that Canadian politicians are making better use of the platform, but sadly, while many of the prominent ones have an account on Twitter, few are using them effectively.  It’s still pretty cool for a casual tweet from your Prime Minister, “Called Mexican President Calderon today”

Regardless, here are some of the big ones in the Twitterverse.

Federal Party Leaders:

• @PMHarper – Prime Minister Stephen Harper
• @JackLayton – NDP Leader Jack Layton
• @M_Ignatieff – Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff
• @gillesduceppe – Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe
• @elizabethmay – Green Party Leader Elizabeth May

Other Notable Federal Politicians and Groups:

• @BobRaeMP – Bob Rae
• @LiberalTour – Liberal Party

Canadian Premiers:

• @g_campbell – BC Premier Gordon Campbell
• @EdStelmach – Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach

Provincial Representatives:

• @TimHudak – Tim Hudak (Ontario) [HT: Joseph Lavoie]

Other Local Politicians:

• @MayorMiller – Toronto Mayor David Miller
• @MayorGregor – Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson

Let me know if I’m missing anyone in the comments below, and I’ll add them to the list!

Twitter has become my primary way of getting news these days.  News sites require you to go and look for information.  With twitter, if the news is important, it will find me.

But what makes twitter so powerful is the cottage industry of tools that have popped up using the API to make your Tweeting life easier.  There is much debate about the best tools to use, but here’s my 5 tools I can’t live without.

1. Twhirl
Twhirl is a desktop client built on the Adobe Air platform so that you can tweet and monitor your friends tweets. Some would argue that Tweetdeck is better if you follow alot of people, but Twhirl gets my vote.

2. Twitterberry
Viewing and sending tweets on the Blackberry allows you to take Twitter on the road.  You could just go to twitter.com in your browser, but loading up Twitterberry makes life so much easier!

3. Twitterific for iPhone 
Iconfactory has released their Mac-based Twitterific for the iPhone, and, of course, it also works on the iPod Touch.  Definately the prettiest way to keep up with your tweets.

4. Twitterfeed
Twitterfeed monitors the RSS feed for your blog (or whatever) and posts to your twitter account every time there is a new post.

5. Tweetlater
Cool Twitter toolset which allows you to schedule items to tweet at a scheduled time, as well as other cool tools, like autofollowing, or sending follow thank-you DMs.

What’s in your toolbox?