El presidente himself, Hugo Chávez, has joined this week the people’s movement, Twitter. Brandishing the very presidential handle @chavezcandanga, Chávez has amassed an impressive 85,900 followers after a single “victorious” tweet. Translated, it reads: “Hey how’s it going? I appeared like I said I would: at midnight. I’m off to Brazil. And very happy to work for Venezuela. We will be victorious!!”

When His Holiness, the Dalai Lama joined Twitter two months ago, I suggested a few pointers to the new guy, a kind of welcome-to-Twitter gesture that I humbly thought it might serve big brands too as they consider whether to join the micro-blogging platform. I don’t want to let this occasion of Chávez’s triumphant arrival to Twitter pass without a similar welcome, so here are a few tips that he, or any CEO or jefe ought to consider once they make the plunge.

1) Don’t rely soley on Twitter to make your point. Chávez informed his party faithful of his imminent Twitter debut during his weekend variety show Aló Presidente. Sure, it helps if you have a monopoly on the local airwaves. But Chávez shows real social media savvy here by going cross-platform with his message. And there’s a Chávez blog too in the works. The Venezuelan president’s choice of “candanga” in his Twitter handle shows flair too. The word is a local expression to describe a person with an “explosive” personality. Expect some fireworks, twitterverse.

2) It bears repeating: be insightful, but keep it brief. Yes, the 140-character limit even applies to you too, dear leader. “The loquacious leader [is] known for speeches that last hours,” The New York Times points out, questioning whether he can be disciplined enough to stay within the limits of Twitter verbosity.

3) Don’t be complacent. Congratulations, you’ve recruited more than 85,000 followers in the first day. (The Dalai Lama scored just 44,000 in day one, I recall). But it’s been a full 24 hours since your first Tweet and your “Chavista” followers are anxious to hear more. Meanwhile, rivals, using the #freeVenezuela hashtag, have gone on the attack as Venezuelan Tweeter Arturo Hidalgo broadcasts, “power outages show saturation of #Venezuelan electricity grid.”

4) Do you have a crisis response strategy in place? Now that you’re on Twitter, critics will be leveling charges directly at you when you make a misstep. Are you ready for this? Ignore them at your peril, lest you trigger an angry Twitterstorm. Here are a few tips on how to deal with the hashtag-crisis that could sink your reputation. Hint: don’t pull a Toyota.

5) Don’t get distracted by your escalating follower numbers. What’s more valuable to you is what the public is saying about you. Scan Twitter to see where you’re performing well in the public’s eye, and what areas still need improving. Maybe the creaking electric grid is a good place to start.

6) How do you measure your influence in a forum that boasts some pretty influential people? Again, not by counting your follower numbers, but by watching the number of people who re-tweet your missives. After day one, you’re not doing so well, Mr. Presidente. We found only a few re-tweets, including this one from a Twitter used based in “Hell.”

7) Be generous. This is the same advice I gave the Dalai Lama in this column. You are not going to agree with everyone on Twitter, but do make a point to re-tweet the genuinely brilliant, witty and provocative posts you come across. Twitter is a conversation, after all. Yes, listening is required.

Buenos tweeting, Mr. Presidente.