It once was a story when politicians did use social media to get their messages across.
But a new report in The Hill focuses on the 56 members of Congress who have not joined Twitter, noting that it’s increasingly the go-to place for think tanks, advocacy groups — and politicians — to blast out information.
“For now, the holdouts are divided almost equally between the two parties. Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) — part of the over-60 crowd — is the only Senate Republican still not using Twitter. Risch’s office said the senator has not ruled it out.
“He certainly sees the benefit of Twitter as a social medi[um], as demonstrated by the Usain Bolt tweets during the Olympics, but less useful as a policy discussion tool,” said spokesman Brad Hoaglun.
Twitter reported 80,000 tweets per minute sent when Bolt won gold in the 200-meter this summer, a social-media record for Olympic-related conversations.
Political interest on Twitter has grown in the past few years, too. Twitter reported that tweets sent about the political conventions this year had sextupled the number sent about both 2008 conventions by the second evening of the Republican National Convention.
