Politicians On Twitter... More Like Justin Bieber Or Bernie Sanders?

Bernie Sanders- ranked "most influential politician on Twitter"

Back last September we ran a Twitter Directory of congresscritters and now I follow a whole bunch of 'em. And some follow me. I woke up yesterday morning and found this:


It doesn't make sense Bob Menendez would follow me. I've gone out of my way to insult and denigrate him for years. And he knows it. Probably a new staffer in charge of Twitter for his social media outreach doesn't. You've got to follow the enemy and the day before, I woke up and found this:


Amash is a clownish douchebag who thinks he's hip and happening and who does do his own twitter feed. It's pretty useless, the product of a confused small mind. But it's his own confused small mind. Other congressmen on Twitter... not so much. Some are upfront about it. Bernie Sanders' feed, which is very businesslike and informative talks about Bernie in the third person and makes no pretense of being by him. The report in The Hill this week claims few Members of Congress do their own tweets... ever. Ironically, one of them is Bernie, who sometimes grabs the reins of the account himself and ends the tweets he does personally with a "-B." The PR firm Edelman Digital ranked Bernie the “most influential politician” on Twitter. Jared Polis (D-CO), a former tech executive does all his own tweets as well as far as I can tell. I think Keith Ellison (D-MN) does as well. "The majority of lawmakers," they report, "are following in the footsteps of celebrity movie stars and athletes, who often hire assistants to tweet under a high-profile name as a means of handling their social-media brand... Most lawmakers do not disclose whether they write their own tweets [and] most members likely use a ghostwriter." But 84% of House Members and 93 senators have twitter accounts now. I haven't run into a single candidate for Congress this cycle that doesn't use Twitter. (One, Lee Rogers, is the first politician to be an earlier adapter of Sprokk, a kind of audio version of Twitter which isn't even out of beta testing yet!) Many of the candidates do their own tweeting, although some share twitter responsibilities with their communications director.

Nick Ruiz, the Blue America-endorsed candidate in Central Florida does all of his own tweeting. He's built a personal relationship with his followers and it would be hard to imagine him turning his account over to someone else. Earlier today, he told us that "Twitter works. I like the ability it gives me as a candidate, and soon to be lawmaker, to communicate with constituents. And I think that voters and other interested parties appreciate authentic Twitter activity, rather than canned PR, written by staff. But unfortunately, many representatives and candidates aren't interested in dialogue, authenticity and community. For my part, I'd like people to know that I see my Twitter activity as a fun and effective way to share my views with the people that care to know them, and they can be assured that it's always me, not a staffer."

Twitter experts argue lawmakers are missing out on an opportunity.

Twitter is “often squandered by using it as a PR tool that doesn’t create more legitimate communication between members and constituents,” according to John Wonderlich, policy director for the Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group that saves deleted congressional tweets.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said that while other lawmakers have to make a “personal decision” whether to tweet, he thinks people notice and appreciate that he writes his own because “people really hunger for authenticity on the part of their elected officials.”

Obama, who with 18 million followers is the world’s most-followed politician on Twitter, discloses whether it’s him or his staff behind his tweets.

Obama’s official Twitter account, @BarackObama, reads, “This account is run by #Obama2012 campaign staff. Tweets from the President are signed -bo.” That practice is followed by other official administration accounts, including those of Vice President Joe Biden, @JoeBiden, and the first lady, @MichelleObama.

“That was gauged as a way to be transparent,” said Ryan J. Davis, executive director of social innovation at Blue State Digital, the firm that designed the online presence for Obama’s 2008 campaign. “We definitely think that’s important.”

...[M]ost Twitter users recognize that the Twitter feed of a celebrity such as Britney Spears or Justin Bieber is more PR outlet than “authentic and personal.” But he argues people expect more from officeholders.

“When you’re a lawmaker, you’re dealing with issues with a little more complexity than when your latest single comes out,” he said. “The stakes are certainly higher.”