@TweetCongress
by Corey Alderdice
We’ve written about how Extemp Central is using Twitter to digest news sources, media outlets, think tanks, organizations, and more.
Even though it seems Twitter’s exponential growth is slowing, there are over 18 million active users of the Tweet Machine. Even as Twitter finds itself integrated into the daily tech cycle for countless individuals, it seems as though there is one group who is slow on the uptake: Congress. Over half of the members of the US House and Senate have yet to use the microblogging platform to stay in touch with their constituents.
Slate analyzes several of reasons why members of Congress haven’t bought into the hype:
A more fundamental problem is that, so far at least, members of Congress just aren’t that good at it. A report released by the Congressional Research Service in September found that nearly half of congressional tweets simply link to press releases or news articles. (The report doesn’t distinguish between the two, but an informal survey of congressional feeds suggests the former are more common.) The next most common type of tweet describes an official congressional action, like a roll call vote or a trip abroad. “Personal” tweets and those related to business in their district—the two types of messages most likely to interest constituents—were the least common types.
While you’re prepping for the weekend, take a moment to follow Extemp Central on Twitter.
To learn more about the members of Congress on Twitter, visit @tweetcongress/senate and @tweetcongress/congress.