That’s right! More of congress has picked up on the fact that Twitter is a direct way of not only sending a short message (140 characters or less) but also one of the most direct ways to see what many people are chatting about, angry about, planning on or just anything that is going on in the world. It’s also a great way to see what the American people are saying about congress and what they are doing or are not doing.
According to tweetcongress.org, Representative John McCain from Arizona has over 1.7 million followers on Twitter and the first Congressional member to join Twitter was Representative Eric Cantor from Virginia. He joined Twitter in April 2007.
By visiting the website, a person is able to sign on using their Twitter account, click on a member of congress which brings up all of their contact information including any websites, phone numbers and Twitter account. Then a person can choose to follow this person or just retweet what they have tweeted, reply to them or go to their website or choose to go back to the homepage.
There is also a blog, photos and a video section on the site. Since the site is newer, there should be more added to it in the near future and more of Congress signing up for Twitter accounts.
Don’t be disappointed if you aren’t yet part of Twitterverse, there is a “Tweetstream” on the tweetcongress.org site to read what congress is tweeting which can be anything from congressional business like news in D.C., upcoming votes, past votes, messages to constituents, events in their states, or personal business with family, news about their favorite sports teams or just a random thought.
Twitter is whatever a user decides to make it. A person can just be all about business and the news or just be random all the time or mix it up and leave people wondering what they will tweet next? Twitter has become as big as it is because it is made up of so many people around the world doing so many different things and tweeting about it. Twitter is also a place where a great amount of discussions go on, sharing thoughts and opinions as well as people sharing ideas for common problems around the world.
At this time in Congress (things tend to change fast in Twitterverse) there are 127 Republicans, 103 Democrats and 2 Independents with active Twitter accounts. Those not tweeting at the moment should be signing on any day, depending on the November elections possibly.
The question is, will they get called down for tweeting while in session or can they keep their tweets under control?
You can find me on Twitter @tracysolomon
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