Politicians on Twitter | Tweeting the people | The Economist

Hmm…

When politicians say they want to talk to their constituents, it is often a polite fiction. But dozens of men and women in Congress have discovered that they can use Twitter to keep in touch. Pete Hoekstra, a Republican representative from Michigan, recently caused Congress’s first “twitterversy” when he tweeted that he was in Baghdad, which struck some critics as a security risk.

Most politicians tweet to promote themselves. They (or their staffers) use the service to distribute press releases and friendly editorials. But others have embraced the informal nature of the medium.

Politicians on Twitter | Tweeting the people | The Economist