A study unveiled by University of Maryland researchers shows Congress' TWITTER use does little to improve government transparency or constituent services. Their report says 80 percent of posts to TWITTER by members of Congress are links to news articles and press releases or descriptions of meetings, meals and workout regimens.
The project's lead researcher, Jennifer Golbeck, said, "There's this huge power that TWITTER provides to Congress and they're not really taking advantage of it. Why post information they can get from other sources?"
Golbeck said one possible reason for the uninspiring posts: Congressional leaders are worried about straying "off-message" and suffering political blowback. Another possible cause is "ghost writing" -- the tendency among government leaders to have staffers write the posts for them.
WHIOTV.COM reviewed multiple posts by Miami Valley members of Congress. A large number of those tweets offered schedule updates or boilerplate news about travel.
Sen. Sherrod Brown - "Will be on MSNBC tonight at 6:30." Rep. Jim Jordan - "Headed back to ohio after a full week in DC- have a great weekend everyone!" Rep. Steve Austria - "Busy District work week. Had meetings with constituents and businesses throughout the District."
Other posts, from leaders outside the Miami Valley include unexpected material. Sen. John McCain tweeted this week, "I'm a huge fan of Mad Men!", an allusion to the popular, Emmy winning TV show.
Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, posted, "stopped for a quick bite to eat at Sting-Rays in Cape Charles."
Congressional staffers who spoke with WHIOTV.COM said TWITTER remains an "experimental" communications tool. Meghan Snyder, spokeswoman for Urbana Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, said, "My boss does have a Twitter account. He’s still learning the ways of new media so our highly capable staff assists him along the way. "
Joanna Kuebler, communications director for Sen. Sherrod Brown, told WHIOTV.COM, "TWITTER afford the senator the opportunity to give immediate reaction to his followers."
The University of Maryland research reports Republicans are far more likely to use TWITTER than their Democratic colleagues in Congress. Golbeck said the ratio of Republican to Democratic usage is "nearly 2 to 1." Congressional staffers told WHIOTV.COM the minority party in Congress is often the most likely to experiment with new communications tools, because "message creation" is a larger share of the minority's party work.