It shouldn’t be a surprise, but it is when you hear President Barack Obama telling Americans that they need to get online and tweet using the #40dollars hashtag to remind law makers what the loss of $40 means to them. That’s social media from the top.

The #40dollars campaign first ran in December in response to Republican tax plans. It was a runaway success as ordinary people joined together to make their voices heard. It also perfectly distilled a complex argument about tax down to a very accessible level, which is why today the White House has renewed it.

The campaign is designed to stop Congress putting up taxes for 160 million  Americans at the end of the month, which for a family making about $50,000 a year the payroll tax cut amounts to about $1,000 a year or about $40 in every paycheck.

The #40dollars campaign is another great example of simple story telling, which the Obama campaign has used very effectively elsewhere with blogs for instance.

Some of those stories are collected here, which gives you an idea of what people are saying as part of the #40dollars campagin: “$40 a paycheck means I have to choose which medication my daughter takes gets put off, and not like something simple we are talking choice or life or death. My daughter is a liver transplant [patient] and is waiting for another transplant. That money is needed to keep her alive until I can get another job since I just graduated college too. For few that money isn’t important for us it means not losing a family member, keeping our jobs, or feeding the family.”  — Heather from Texas

It is showing itself as a hugely successul way of reaching out and connecting with people and a great use of Twitter: simple, populists with universal appeal that crosses party lines.

It follows the mass of tweets sent as Obama gave his State of the Union speech.

“In December, we asked America to tell us what losing $40 per paycheck would mean for their family, and the answers came from across the country — from students trying to stretch the budget a little bit further. From moms who need to buy their children lunch every day in the school cafeteria. And from commuters who are filling up the tank and looking at rising gas prices. Using twitter, email and Facebook, they told us clearly that $40 can make all the difference in the world.

“Ultimately, thanks to these stories, Congress did the right thing and passed a two-month extension of the tax cut and unemployment insurance – but only after a drawn-out debate that put the strength of our economy and the security of middle class families at risk. Now that extension is about to expire.

“The President is also inviting all Americans who oppose raising their taxes to share their own stories with the White House – you can submit them on WhiteHouse.gov, using the Twitter hashtag #40dollars or post them on our Facebook wall. You can watch the President’s remarks with these hardworking American families at 10:40 am ET on WhiteHouse.gov/live.”