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Twitter use by the U.S. Congress

Author

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  • Jennifer Golbeck
  • Justin M. Grimes
  • Anthony Rogers

Abstract

Twitter is a microblogging and social networking service with millions of members and growing at a tremendous rate. With the buzz surrounding the service have come claims of its ability to transform the way people interact and share information and calls for public figures to start using the service. In this study, we are interested in the type of content that legislators are posting to the service, particularly by members of the United States Congress. We read and analyzed the content of over 6,000 posts from all members of Congress using the site. Our analysis shows that Congresspeople are primarily using Twitter to disperse information, particularly links to news articles about themselves and to their blog posts, and to report on their daily activities. These tend not to provide new insights into government or the legislative process or to improve transparency; rather, they are vehicles for self‐promotion. However, Twitter is also facilitating direct communication between Congresspeople and citizens, though this is a less popular activity. We report on our findings and analysis and discuss other uses of Twitter for legislators.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer Golbeck & Justin M. Grimes & Anthony Rogers, 2010. "Twitter use by the U.S. Congress," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(8), pages 1612-1621, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jamist:v:61:y:2010:i:8:p:1612-1621
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.21344
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    Cited by:

    1. Zachary J. Auter & Jeffrey A. Fine, 2018. "Social Media Campaigning: Mobilization and Fundraising on Facebook," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 99(1), pages 185-200, March.
    2. Michael Kowal, 2023. "The Value of a Like: Facebook, Viral Posts, and Campaign Finance in US Congressional Elections," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(3), pages 153-163.
    3. Fabio Padovano & Pauline Mille, 2022. "Education, fake news and the PBC," Economics Working Paper from Condorcet Center for political Economy at CREM-CNRS 2022-01-ccr, Condorcet Center for political Economy.
    4. Minjeong Kim & Han Woo Park, 2012. "Measuring Twitter-based political participation and deliberation in the South Korean context by using social network and Triple Helix indicators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 90(1), pages 121-140, January.
    5. Fabio Padovano & Pauline Mille, 2023. "Education, fake news and the Political Budget Cycle," Economics Working Paper from Condorcet Center for political Economy at CREM-CNRS 2023-01-ccr, Condorcet Center for political Economy.
    6. Reza Mousavi & Bin Gu, 2019. "The Impact of Twitter Adoption on Lawmakers’ Voting Orientations," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(1), pages 133-153, March.
    7. Tracie Farrell & Genevieve Gorrell & Kalina Bontcheva, 2020. "Vindication, virtue, and vitriol," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 401-443, November.
    8. Mirza Ashfaq Ahmed, 2017. "Political Marketing: Role Of Socialization Process In The Evelopment Of Voting Intentions," Proceedings of International Academic Conferences 4607305, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    9. Lihua Wang & Xin Luo, 2021. "Understanding the Interplay Between Government Microblogs and Citizen Engagement: Evidence from China," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 487-520, June.
    10. Lukas Obholzer & William T Daniel, 2016. "An online electoral connection? How electoral systems condition representatives’ social media use," European Union Politics, , vol. 17(3), pages 387-407, September.
    11. Kafferine Yamagishi & Lanndon Ocampo & Dharyll Prince Abellana & Reciel Ann Tanaid & Ann Myril Tiu & Maria Esther Medalla & Egberto Selerio & Chrisalyn Go & Rey Cesar Olorvida & Amalia Maupo & Deariel, 2021. "The impact of social media marketing strategies on promoting sustainability of tourism with fuzzy cognitive mapping: a case of Kalanggaman Island (Philippines)," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(10), pages 14998-15030, October.
    12. Amoah John & Nutakor Felix & Li Jinke & Jibril Abdul Bashiru & Sanful Benjamin & Odei Michael Amponsah, 2021. "Antecedents of social media usage intensity in the financial sector of an emerging economy: a Pls-Sem Algorithm," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 16(4), pages 387-406, December.
    13. Sanjana Arora & Jonas Debesay & Hande Eslen-Ziya, 2022. "Persuasive narrative during the COVID-19 pandemic: Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s posts on Facebook," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.
    14. Nocca Florence, 2017. "A Semi-automatic Method to Retrieve Twitter Accounts," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 139-151, December.

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