Ever wonder where powerful government figures stop for a bite to eat or what they do during their weekends? Probably not, but that’s mainly what elected officials use their Twitter accounts to tell you, according to a recent university study.
Hundreds of congressmen and other federal, state and local politicians use the popular social networking site to send out messages to constituents, journalists and other followers. But like the average user, even members of Congress do not keep things strictly business on the Internet — the vast majority use Twitter for self-promotion.
Only 20 percent of congressional tweets actually improved government transparency or communication with citizens, according to research from the information studies college.
“There wasn’t a lot of new insights that you could get from reading the posts,” said Jennifer Golbeck, an information studies professor who led the study. “People could have posted really insightful or useful information, even with the character limits, but there wasn’t a lot of that.”
Besides self-promotion, most of the tweets served other informational purposes, such as announcing TV and radio appearances and providing links to blogs and newspaper articles.
The study also found that 53 percent of tweets were “informational” and 27 percent dealt with the leaders’ “locations and activities.” On the other hand, only 5 percent of tweets dealt with “official business.”
Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) provided an example of a typical informational tweet: “My idea of a classic Hawaii-style potluck is: misubi, dim sum, chicken adobo, potato salad, shoyu hot dog and malasadas.”
Golbeck, with help from a doctoral student and an undergraduate, analyzed Abercrombie’s tweet and about 5,000 others beginning in February. The team released its results last month and hopes to present them at an April conference in Atlanta.
Another tweet analyzed by Golbeck and her group was from Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.): “Got really sick Fri afternoon. Spent all weekend recovering in DC. Ugh. Glad I don’t get sick often. Hate laying around.”
McCaskill, who the researchers said was actually one of the best tweeters in Congress, has the second-highest amount of followers among Capitol Hill twitters, trailing only Sen. John McCain (R-Az.).
Information about which congressional leaders use Twitter and how many followers each has is available on TweetCongress.org, an independently run site that encourages representatives and senators to use Twitter. It also allows one to look up their state legislators by zip code to see if they are using the social networking tool.
If visitors find out that their state’s leaders are not tweeting, the website provides a petition form that can be sent to legislators to encourage them to do so, Justin Grimes, the doctoral student who contributed to the study, said.
Grimes, a PhD candidate in the college of information studies, said this site is a great tool for students, especially those interested in politics and public policy because it motivates them to respond.
“If you are really interested in a certain issue such as health care, for example, and you see on the site that your congressional leaders are in fact using Twitter, you may view it as an invaluable use of their time,” Grimes said. “Students may then feel compelled to contact their state leaders; it’s all about increasing dialogue and communication.”
Golbeck said no congressional official representing Maryland has a twitter account. However, it is used by several state officials, including Comptroller Peter Franchot, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown and Gov. Martin O’Malley.
Franchot, for one, is proud of his Twitter use.
“Congressional tweets are twaddle,” he wrote shortly after the study was leased, linking to an article about it in The (Baltimore) Sun. “I’m all about constituent interaction, could teach those congressmen”
Undergraduate Tony Rogers, a senior individual studies major who also contributed the study, said college students may have the power to solve many issues they face by taking advantage of tweeting with their state leaders.
“If Maryland congressmen and women were encouraged to interact on Twitter, students could, for example, contact them and ask them to do something about things of importance, like tuition,” Rogers said.
ga@umdbk.com
