President Hugo Chavez is tops on Twitter in Venezuela less than two weeks after launching his account, surpassing Internet-savvy foes who dominate the social networking site and use it to oppose him. Chavez's account, “chavezcandanga,” had racked up more than 237,000 followers as of Saturday morning — besting the 234,000 who receive tweets from Globovision, the only TV channel that remains critical of the socialist leader. In recent televised appearances, Chavez has trumpeted the meteoric rise of his Twitter popularity while downplaying the critical, often disparaging messages he receives. “Some criticize me, others insult me. I don't care,” he said. “It's a form of contact with the world.” With an average of about 20,000 people per day signing up to follow Chavez's tweets, the president says he has been overwhelmed by nearly 54,000 messages from supporters, critics and people writing to ask for help with a problem or lodge a complaint. On Thursday, he announced that a new team of 200 aides would help him manage the stream.
