Catching up to the recent swell of government users, Twitter will expand its West Coast office and tap into America's political hub -- by creating a Washington, D.C.-based public policy department.

On Wednesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev toured the headquarters of Twitter. Besides having a fruitful cultural exchange with Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, he also fired off his first tweet

On Wednesday, during a visit to Silicon Valley, Mr. Medvedev made it even easier to practice at least an amateur version of Kremlinology by opening two new Twitter accounts for the Kremlin — one in Russian and one in English — during a visit to the popular micro-blogging service’s corporate headquarters.

The Israeli government is hoping YouTube and Twitter can help restore its reputation after a botched raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla killed nine people. Don't get your hopes up, Bibi. There's only so much a technological tactic can do after such a big strategic blunder.

The Dalai Lama is on Twitter, and he's taking questions. Or he was, at least. For 90 minutes today, the spiritual leader of Tibet, who joined the social networking site in February, held an online conversation with the aim of reaching people inside China via Twitter.

After he promised to "let loose" on Tuesday night, a Spanish-language tweet duly appeared on his new chavezcandanga account 14 minutes after midnight.

APDS Blogger: Melanie Ciolek

Since the violent aftermath of Iran’s presidential elections, American policymakers have struggled with how best to approach the opposition Green Movement without jeopardizing U.S. efforts to limit Iran’s nuclear ambitions. There are signs that an increasingly popular approach might not be more sanctions – but fewer, at least when it comes to Internet technologies.