Thune named co-chairman of Internet Caucus

Look to see more of Sen. John Thune on Twitter — the South Dakota Republican was named one of the three co-chairmen of the Congressional Internet Caucus on Wednesday.

Thune will help lead the 150-member caucus, consisting of lawmakers in both parties and both houses, as the Congress continues to increase its use of new media and Web 2.0 technologies to craft and deploy messages.

Thune, a newcomer to Twitter whose first tweet came on April 7, tweeted Wednesday:

Just named Co-Chair of the Cong. Internet Caucus– bipartisan/bicameral group with over 150 members. DM me with your ideas or suggestions.

Thune’s reference of a “DM” refers to a “direct message” two followers of Twitter can send to each other through the microblogging service. The direct messages are still fewer than 140 characters, but are private messages, unlike “@” replies users exchange with each other.