The Fed says the new channel has been opened "with the aim of increasing the accessibility and availability of Federal Reserve Board news".

To start, tweets will include items such as press releases, speeches, testimony, reports to the Congress, the Monthly Report on Credit and Liquidity Programs and the Balance Sheet, and the Federal Reserve's weekly balance sheet. Additionally, the Board will tweet about educational frequently asked questions (FAQs) and post video links.

The feed has already picked up almost 14,000 followers within hours of going live. However, those seeking a jump on the Fed's monetary policy position are likely to be disappointed, with the microblogging service playing second fiddle to the Fed's Website as the primary source of communication.

Followers may find more sport in seeing how the Fed condenses its indecipherable Fedspeak - described on Wikipedia as "a turgid dialect of English" used by Federal Reserve Board chairmen in making intentionally wordy, vague, and ambiguous statements - into the 140 character limit set by Twitter.