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Twitter Use by the US Congress

Twitter Use by the US Congress. Jennifer Golbeck, Justin Grimes, Anthony Rogers College of Information Studies HCIL. Users post 140 character updates called “tweets” Can “follow” other users Over 100 million registered users. Talk is cheap, except when Congress does it.

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Twitter Use by the US Congress

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  1. Twitter Use by the US Congress Jennifer Golbeck, Justin Grimes, Anthony Rogers College of Information Studies HCIL

  2. Users post 140 character updates called “tweets” • Can “follow” other users • Over 100 million registered users

  3. Talk is cheap, except when Congress does it. -Cullen Hightower

  4. Who is Tweeting?

  5. Visualizations created in NodeXL

  6. What are they saying? • Get all the tweets we can • Read them ~6,000 tweets • Analyze the content

  7. Categories • Informational • Locations and Activities and Official Business • External and Internal Communication • Requesting action and Fundraising • Personal Messages

  8. JimDeMint: Why I voted against Hillary Clinton http://tinyurl.com/cxpclz MarkWarner: Stopped for a quick bite to eat at Sting-Rays in Cape Charles. timryan: I’m now voting for the Emer Extended Unempl compensation act of 2008. How cajn we as a country, at a time when American’s are getting squeez. mlfudge: @williamspa I will certainly do my best to help the 11th Congressional District and fulfill the promise to continue Stephanies work!

  9. Bottom Line • The vast majority of tweets read like sound bites • Self promotion • Soapbox-style position statements

  10. …but there is potential! • Some back and forth debates • Some very useful communication between representatives and constituents • Some tweets improving transparency

  11. Recommendations • Use Twitter to communicate, not to broadcast • Serve your Twitter constituents, not yourself; provide insightful and useful information • These rules apply to everyone – not just Congress!

  12. Questions? • Jennifer Golbeck • golbeck@gmail.com • Paper to appear in JASIST (Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology)

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