California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger paid a call at Twitter on Wednesday, praising the microblogging sensation as a way to stay in tune with what voters are thinking.
Schwarzenegger`s chat with Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams in the Internet firm`s San Francisco offices was streamed online in a "tweetcast" and ranged from bodybuilding to the state`s budget woes.
"Social networking, I think, is something you have brought to the ultimate level," Schwarzenegger told Stone and Williams. "It is brilliant what you came up with, staggering."
Schwarzenegger voiced certainty that the pair weren`t thinking about a role in an Iranian revolution when they created the microblogging service.
"It was low on the list," Williams quipped as Stone emphatically shook his head to indicate "No."
In July, Twitter became a key communications tool for Iranians protesting the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Twitter users outside Iran changed time and location settings to make it appear they were messaging from Tehran to make it harder for authorities to find those really tweeting from that country.
Schwarzenegger, whose office is well-wired into Internet technologies, described Twitter as an effective way for politicians to get real-time feedback from voters.
"You always try to reach out and touch the people; you need to know always what they are feeling and it changes so quickly," the governor said. "We see it with health care reform."
Talk inevitably touched on exercise, with Stone telling the bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-governor that Twitter workers are more into running than weightlifting.
Some Twitter workers slip out of the office for midnight marathon runs along San Francisco streets, said Stone. Twitter also invites workers from local technology firms to join in a weekly run along the Embarcadero.
"Now I realize we need a weight room," Stone noted after Schwarzenegger commented that workout centers have flourished in the aftermath of his days as Mr. Universe.
Schwarzenegger was nicknamed "The Austrian Oak" during a bodybuilding career that included winning a series of Mr. Olympia crowns. He parlayed his bodybuilding glory into a film career.
Schwarzenegger said he has turned to Twitter users for ideas about how to fix California`s daunting budget deficit.
Suggestions he is using include having a "garage sale" to raise money from bicycles, cars and other property the state doesn`t need.
Fittingly, Stone scanned Twitter for questions to ask Schwarzenegger, coming up with "Why can`t other states have a governor this awesome."
"That`s why I`m the one and only," Schwarzenegger quickly retorted.
After the governor left Twitter, Stone fired off a tweet thanking him for stopping by for a chat.
