We have had several discussions on the arrival of Twitter and how it proposes to attract revenue. Well, as long as every other company is putting its hand out to the government in these times, why shouldn't Twitter? As the Economist has recently reported, Twitter is now performing a valuable public service, by allowing politicians to stay in contact with their constituents. A bevy of politicians, including John Culberson, Pete Hoekstra and Claire McCaskill, are now 'tweeting' their 'followers' on a daily basis.
Interestingly, the most followed pol is John McCain, with 48,174 followers (more than 7x higher than the next highest pol). On the whole, Republicans are better represented than Democrats. It is often said that Obama was able to clinch victory in the last election due, in part, to his ability to galvanize support through online channels. The Democrat party was billed as "with it" and tech-savvy. Judging by the infancy of Twitter, it looks as though Republicans have embraced the digital age and are squaring up for a hard fight online in the years to come.
Incidentally, Pete Hoekstra caused a "twitterversy," when he tweeted that he was on the ground in Iraq, which many viewed as an unexpected security risk. Not to be overly cynical, but Twitter must be licking its chops in anticipation of the next political scandal unfolding on its infrastructure, with all the attendant publicity. Thanks to Twitter, the role of political PR professionals just got much harder!
For the article in question, see: http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13109717
If you are interested in following one of your politicians through Twitter, visit: http://tweetcongress.org/.
W.Denton
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