When a new company is seeking investors, using 140 characters isjust fine with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC).

Last week, the agency's staff, in a ''Compliance and DisclosureInterpretation,'' said a startup can post a Twitter message aboutits stock or debt offering to gauge interest among potentialinvestors.

TheSEC announcement continues the agency's trend of warming up tosocial media, which began two years ago when it approved the use ofposts on Facebook and Twitter to communicate corporateannouncements such as earnings.

“It's a brave new world,” said Joe Wallin, a Seattle-basedattorney who advises startups at Carney Badley Spellman PS. “Theway securities have been distributed and sold has never involved alot of media.”

The SEC's latest endorsement of social media applies only tocompanies looking to raise as much as $50 million a year.

Under new small-business fundraising rules approved in March,companies raising as much as $50 million in capital will berequired to make fewer disclosures. The previous threshold was $5million. The changes stemmed from the 2012 Jumpstart Our BusinessStartups Act, which deregulated fundraising rules for smallbusinesses.

Firms that use Twitter to feel out investor interest mustinclude a link to a required disclaimer that says the firm isn'tyet selling securities, the SEC said in the announcement.

It's not clear how many companies will take advantage of thehigher fundraising cap. Fewer than 30 offerings were made from 2012to 2014, when the limit was $5 million, according to the SEC.

The agency said in April 2013 that companies could use Twitteror Facebook to make big announcements as long as investors weretold in advance to look there.

–With assistance from Dave Michaels in Washington and ChrisDolmetsch in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

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