German minister vows to stay Twittering

Nov 29, 2009, 11:20 GMT

   Berlin - Germany's youngest federal cabinet minister, Kristina Koehler, said in a news interview published Sunday that she would keep using Twitter and Facebook despite her high position.

Koehler, 32, was nominated on Friday as minister of family affairs in a cabinet reshuffle after the labour minister, Franz Josef Jung, stepped down amid accusations of a cover-up of civilian casualties in an airstrike in Afghanistan while he was defence minister.

Asked if she would keep writing personal alerts on Twitter and Facebook, Koehler told the Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag, 'I definitely plan to.' She currently has 600 'friends' registered on her Facebook page.

Her most recent Twitter message, posted very late Friday, said, 'Thanks for all your congratulations. I'm overwhelmed, and very excited about all the challenges coming up.'

All German cabinet ministers have personal websites, but they are usually managed by aides, not by the minister personally.