Will the Real Egyptian President Please Tweet?

Perhaps it’s a sign of the times, but as wire services scrambled this afternoon to see if they could get a reaction from Mohammed Morsi, (the newly deposed former President of Egypt) they turned to a quote via a Twitter account where he allegedly called the military’s actions a “full coup”.

Pres. Morsy: Measures announced by Armed Forces leadership represent a full coup categorically rejected by all the free men of our nation

— Egyptian Presidency (@EgyPresidency) July 3, 2013

But which Twitter account and run by whom? Morsi has a verified account with more than a million and a half followers @MuhammadMorsi.

This account however has not been active in the past day (24 hours).

There is also the account with the name @EgyPresidency which is also verified but is now tweeting in the middle of what is clearly a transition.

This account has attributed the phrase “full coup” to the former President, but is it doing so in reference to him as a former President? Is the account staffed by a Morsi loyalist? If this account represents the President, who exactly is that? Would it be the voice of the interim leader when he is sworn in tomorrow? Is this Twitter account technically the voice of a leaderless state?

While the Egyptian Army may have secured state run television stations, they might not have secured the Presidential social media accounts. Note to those planning coups: have a social media plan, because in times like these, social media accounts it will not go silent, they will be amplified.

You can subscribe to Hari on Facebook and Google Plus and follow him on Twitter @Hari.