Congress on Twitter: Yay, or nay?

Mon Feb 2, 2009 12:19PM EST

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A new Web site is tracking which U.S. House and Senate members have discovered the joy of tweeting—and which haven't. 

The L.A. Times tech blog has the scoop on Tweet Congress, the aptly named site that lets you search for Twitter-savvy House representatives and Senators by name or location.

You can also find out who's the most followed (John Culberson, R-TX, with an impressive 5,932 Twitter followers, and counting) and the most active (yep, ditto). Indeed, Republican tweeters outnumber Democrats almost two-to-one (41 to 24), while Independents—I'm looking at you, Lieberman—are still in the dark when it comes to the red-hot microblogging service. (Speaking of which ... click here for a quick Twitter primer.)

Pop quiz: Which state is leading the pack when it comes to best Twitter representation? If you guessed California, New York, or Washington state (home of Microsoft, right?), well, you guessed wrong. Instead, try South Carolina, with four of its eight U.S. representatives tweeting away. Up next: New Mexico (two of five) and Ohio (seven of 20). Among the many zilches: New York, the District of Columbia, Washington—and yes, Alaska.

Also interesting, but a little harder to quantify: Finding out which representatives are actually tweeting themselves, and who's just staffing it out. Rep. Culberson of Texas looks like he's really getting into it ("you will always be talking to me not staff," he tweeted last week). Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill also seems to be getting into the spirit: "What a game. Found myself pulling for the underdog", she Twittered during the Super Bowl.

On the other hand, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi needs to loosen up, if her recent tweets ("On The Senate Passage of the State Children's Health Insurance Program [link]") are any indication.

Related:
Tweet Congress tracks politicians on Twitter, heckles ones who aren't [L. A. Times tech blog]

Comments on Congress on Twitter: Yay, or nay?

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  • 66 Posted by golferjag on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:11PM EDT Report Abuse

    Actually there is a link (if you click on it it will route you to a different site) to define twit. Must be a lot of dems on, eh dpd?

  • 67 Posted by ladywiseowl on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:55PM EDT Report Abuse

    maybe we need to check all the congress to see how many of them have not paid their taxes. We might have quite a bit of money to work with if they all pay their taxes.

  • 68 Posted by ricodonoh8 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:40PM EDT Report Abuse

    So the Republican congressmen have figured out a tech-saavy way to connect with each other. Now they can gritch and moan during a democrat's speech, or when they are bored, or when they're having a brilliant insight while sitting in the can (which explains several of their constipated insights, by the way). They can also keep track of who's sleeping with whom, of which strip joints are the hottest, and of where they're meeting for drinks and blow. Who knew Twitter had so many Republican uses?

  • 69 Posted by markbunch5252 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:07PM EDT Report Abuse

    Thats because Twitter is so stupid anyways. It makes perfect sense. Twitter is for idiots.Republicans....well, you make the connection

  • 70 Posted by southwind077 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:34PM EDT Report Abuse

    Maybe the Republicans twitter (a sexual perversion) more 2 to 1 , but the Democrats phillpo more than the Republicans by a margin of 5 to 1.

  • 71 Posted by hatintheringltd on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:17PM EDT Report Abuse

    Big deal. I've known that Republics were twits for many years now. I wonder is Sen. Vitter twitters everyone when he hires a hooker to change his diapers, or Sen. Craig twitters everytime he plays footsie in the men's restroom.

  • 72 Posted by wj516 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    I actually thought this was a good article...interesting. For all you commenters..I have a suggestion: If you don't know what Twitter is, try googling it. If you don't know how to Google, ask your kid. If you don't have a kid, ask someone else's kid. While you're at it, ask yourself why you spend time posting comments on a board like this instead of complaining. Spend your time LEARNING instead of posting inane chatter.

  • 73 Posted by mindroth2000 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:21PM EDT Report Abuse

    Democrats are to busy trying to come up with ways to spend your money that twittering After all Acorn needs that 40 billion

  • 74 Posted by serendipity4949 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:12PM EDT Report Abuse

    Leave it to the liberals to put Republicans down for something. Always mean spirited.

  • 75 Posted by teacher478 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    Ben, considering the number of people who don't have any idea what you are talking about, this is one useless article. Thank goodness most of our politicians can connect better to the public.

  • 76 Posted by serendipity4949 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:12PM EDT Report Abuse

    Anyone throwing hate at the Dems? Just pointing out the hatefulness and the constant uppity manner of the Democratic liberals. And why is it necessary? If really does not make you better or more intelligent to do so....actually it shows America the kind of people that voted in our new administration. Sad....and disgusting.

  • 77 Posted by scubak1w1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:10PM EDT Report Abuse

    For all you posters, "(Speaking of which ... click here for a quick Twitter primer.)" :sigh:

  • 79 Posted by serendipity4949 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:12PM EDT Report Abuse

    I would like to see my Congress people paying taxes and connecting with the people of America.

  • 80 Posted by drrolex04 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm sure if the article was the opposite- and rather more democrats "twittered" than republicans, all the libs would say how tech-savvy democrats are and how out-of-touch republicans are....hahah, but of course, since more republicans do it...it can't possibly be that republicans are getting in touch...no, twitter must be for the simple minded...oh how proud the libs were in how they used the internet and networking sites to get obama elected...i guess twitter..haha as opposed to facebook, myspace, etc...and all the other website that democrats waste their time on instead of working... is for the intellectual left.

  • 81 Posted by devkumarkar90 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    Please explain what is tweeting. The article is poorly written. So long as they are going to vote for the stimulus package, I couldn't care less.

  • 82 Posted by msk4970 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    Just goes to show that once again the Democrats have their heads up their asses, and are unable to keep up.

  • 83 Posted by madelainedusseau on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:02PM EDT Report Abuse

    It does say in the article what twitter is. It is in the 3rd paragraph or so. I already knew what it was, but you just need to read the first 3 paragraphs and then visit the link.

  • 84 Posted by bzmom41 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:15PM EDT Report Abuse

    I guess the Republicans have more time on their hands to waste compared to the Democrats. Perhaps we would all benefit if they spent more time applying themselves to actually solving our country's problems instead of twittering...

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