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WHY CONGRESS TWITTERS BUT DOESN'T BLOG.
Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill is big on communication. She's got a twitter account where she blasts out quick squibs about her life. She's a got a Tumblr page where she appears to be posting photos. She does all this, she says, because she appreciates the ability to communicate with her constituents.
But this is the problem with the public sphere's quick embrace of Twitter. It's intimacy without communication. McCaskill doesn't actually say anything in 140 characters or less. The illusion of transparency comes because in everyday life, we only hear about the dinner plans of people we actually have a relationship with. What's useful about intimacy, however, isn't the exchange of trivia but the access to different perspectives. And I'd really like to hear her perspective! It would be rather nice if senators and congressmen routinely wrote posts explaining their thinking on major issues. A public service, even. Instead, they've all embraced Twitter.
It's not just McCaskill. It's McCain and Dodd and Hoekstra and Boehner and a half dozen more converts every day. And that's no accident. Twitter allows the benefits of blogs -- an authentic connection with your audience -- without exposing you to the dangers of actual, substantive engagement.
But if just a few congressfolk embraced blogs, it would be harder for others to resist. So c'mon, Senator McCaskill. You've already got the Tumblr page. Lay it on us. Let's have some real talk.
COMMENTS (27)
Twitter is all about gossip, which is integral to politics and effective PR. All the better for it to not convey information, and thus be open to criticism!
Posted by: David W. | March 17, 2009 12:33 PM
oo, oo, I know this one: it's because one would (seem to) require more thought than the other?
Posted by: sdrDusty | March 17, 2009 1:01 PM
Yes, it would be infinitely preferable if, say, Barney Frank started a blog.
That said, it's sort of funny to see claire's posts like "time to read up on procurement rules. and do laundry. dreading the laundry more."
Posted by: Nicholas Beaudrot | March 17, 2009 1:10 PM
back in his senate days, obama had a podcast where he'd expound at length about what he thought about the issues, why he voted how he did. as one of his constituents, it was pretty awesome.
podcasting (audio) is easier for politicians than blogging (typing). you get a sense of intimacy and it's easy to do.
Posted by: sarah | March 17, 2009 1:10 PM
I think it's pretty easy to see why congressman don't substantively blog about their perspectives on the issues. Some of the more eloquent/bolder/safer ones can get away with it, but in general the risk would be way way too high.
Posted by: Tony V | March 17, 2009 1:19 PM
Actually I found Obama's podcast to be intensely boring. When he goes full wonk his vocal intonation just gets super dry. And I like this stuff!
But yes, the Obama podcast was pretty cool.
Posted by: Nicholas Beaudrot | March 17, 2009 1:21 PM
Ask and you shall receive. Clair McCaskill's first blog post:
http://clairecmc.tumblr.com/post/87275940/testing-out-my-new-blog
Posted by: Karen | March 17, 2009 2:10 PM
Twitter's unidirectional content-free stream is a feature, not a bug.
Posted by: paul | March 17, 2009 3:36 PM
You're confusing campaigning with governing.
Twitter is campaign mailings for the 21st century. Blogging - with comments enableed - would be closer to crowd sourced policymaking.
Of course politicians are going to embrace the first but not the second.
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