Today, EFF's Twitter account received its 50,000th follower.  That’s 50,000 people who care about the future of civil liberties -- at least enough to keep tabs on EFF through our Twitter feed. And while there are surely a few spam bots in there, we’re glad to see so many thousands of people showing their allegiance to digital rights.

We use Twitter as a communication tool and also as a feedback mechanism, so we can educate people about digital rights and also hear back from our Twitter friends. While we don’t respond to every message directed our way on Twitter, we do read them and try to incorporate that feedback in future posts.

We wanted to commemorate the 50,000th follower on Twitter - and what better way than with a cute animal dressed up in EFF shwag? So pictured below is Kodi, our canine outreach coordinator. Kodi is an eight-year-old Newfoundland who lives with EFF legal director Cindy Cohn. He enjoys sprawling in front of the offices of the legal team, scaring new interns, eating peanut butter, and defending civil liberties. He's featured in the very chic EFF baseball cap and superhero-blue EFF member shirt. If you want to emulate Kodi's civil-liberties-loving fashion sense, check out the EFF store.

Want even more EFF in your digital life?  Make friends with us on Identi.ca, YouTube, Flickr, and Facebook.