What's happening in the political Twitterverse these days? Republican lawmakers are out Tweeting their Democratic counterparts. The newly released “Twongress Report" shows that 89 Republicans are actively tweeting, compared to 43 Democrats. The Hill’s blogging that the divide is especially apparent in the House. 42 percent of the Republican Caucus is tweeting, while only 12 percent of the Democratic Caucus has picked up the habit. House Republicans are the most active Twitter users, but in the Senate, Democrats have more clout on Twitter. Republican Senator John McCain has the most followers of any Senator, whereas Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill has the highest number of tweets.
The Caucus is also blogging about the “Twongress Report” and notes that while the social media has become popular on the Hill, it’s not being used the way it should be. They're writing, “many congressional Twitter users don’t follow others or reTweet items. The study’s author, Mark Senak, said, “It can be more like one-way communication, which is not really what Twitter was designed for.” He also said curiosity about how lawmakers were discussing health care was a major reason why he started the Twitter study. Check out the Caucus.
You can find the full study here.
