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"Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi denied \u2014 on Facebook \u2014 reports that he would step down amid pressure from Italy's intensifying debt crisis.\n\"The rumors of my resignation are groundless,\" he wrote on his Facebook wall Monday, after giving a similar statement to an Italian newspaper.\nBerlusconi faces increasing pressure as constituents call for his resignation before a key vote Tuesday and Italy's debt crisis intensifies.\nHis former spokesperson (who has since become a newspaper editor) had published a report earlier in the day saying the Prime Minister would step down \"within hours,\" according to Bloomberg.\nAlthough Facebook is not the most commonly invoked communication method for political leaders, Berlusconi's announcement to his 330,000 followers isn't an anomaly. Newt Gringrich, for instance, first announced his presidential run on Facebook and Twitter. \nBut it is unusual for a politician to post something that is so likely to receive a firey response. As Oakland Mayor Jean Quan found out after police tear gassed Ocuppy Oakland protesters, Facebook can quickly turn from open dialogue to public lambasting in the wrong circumstances. \n\n\n\n\nImage courtesy iStockphoto/EdStock"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/11/07/silvio-berlusconi-resign-facebook/>