The ‘Weinergate’ Effect (On Congressional Tweets) - Granite Grok

The ‘Weinergate’ Effect (On Congressional Tweets)

Tweet activity infographic

According to Mashable, congressional Tweets are down 30% since the Weinergate debacle unfolded.   The lesson in the aftermath seems to be that less Twitter is better if your day job lands you in the Capitol building.  Either that or 30% of the Tweets coming from the Federal Government’s elected members may be considered of a questionable nature and that activity has been castrated by little Anthony and his tweets.

Democrats decreased their activity only slightly more than that of Republicans, 29% vs the GOP decline of 27%, which didn’t surprise me.  What did surprise me was the actual volume of Tweets from the right.  Republicans are tweeting more than twice as often, before and after the momentous events since memorial day weekend.

This might pose a curious problem for the left.  They used to make fun of Republicans failure to embrace technology and social media.   They even bragged about a technical advantage.  But that gap no longer exists.  With Republicans obviously embracing social media–one of the success stories behind the TEA party and the 2010 landslide–Democrats may have to try to win on issues.

Yeah, that is kind of funny.  Win on issues.  I crack myself up.

Fear not Twitter-sphere. The reality of this decrease can be more easily explained like this.  Most sane people slow down when they pass a car on the side of the road that has been pulled over by a police officer.  (This does not apply in Massachusetts)  It is an acknowledgement that there is a line that can be crossed and that we know people cross it.  We just want to show you that we do know how to drive the speed limit.  (In New Hampshire there is a law requiring it.-slowing down when police or safety vehicles have their lights flashing, I mean.)

But about one-quarter mile after we’ve passed the scene we’ll put the lead back in our foot and get back to business as usual.

Give it a few days.  Congress will be back to its regular allotment of Twits, I mean tweets,  in no time.

 

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