WASHINGTON — It used to be that communicating with an elected official on Capitol Hill was a far-off dream. But today more members of Congress are using social media than those who aren’t – including all eight elected officials from South Carolina.
According to TweetCongress.org, a website that primarily petitions members of Congress to sign up for the popular micro-blogging platform, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., is the third most followed politician on Twitter with more than 114,000 followers. DeMint first joined Twitter in 2007, two years after his election to the U.S. Senate.
The man who first advised DeMint on how to use Twitter and Facebook was Wesley Donehue, owner of Donehue Direct, a political consulting and online branding firm based in South Carolina.
“DeMint goes out of his way to talk and interact with people,” said Donehue, explaining the senator’s popularity online. “He’s very personal on the social networks.”
DeMint’s image as one of the most conservative members of Congress has also earned him a strong following. Donehue said that in 2007, DeMint “had a tendency” to write his own messages on Twitter. Today, it seems to be a combination of both the senator and his staff.
DeMint’s postings on Twitter are sporadic, but when he tweets, his messages are all political.
On Nov. 9 he tweeted, “All I want for Christmas is a free market,” followed with a link to his blog about what he said was President Obama’s proposed Christmas tree tax. DeMint’s tweet was one of 15 in November. In October, the account was updated 13 times.
Of the 535 members of Congress, an estimated 130 have yet to create a Twitter account, according to Chris McCroskey of TweetCongress.org.
McCroskey started TweetCongress.org in 2008 after attempts to find his congressman on Twitter proved to be difficult. McCroskey thought to himself that if a software developer with 15 years in the industry was having a hard time finding his representative, how were others going to succeed?
One of the few congressmen who respond openly to messages left on his Facebook page is Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., sometimes bypassing his own press secretary. One such example came with the Stop Online Piracy Act, according to Duncan’s spokesman, Allen Klump.
“Our office didn’t know about (the bill),” said Klump. “People started writing about it on Facebook. The first time we heard about it was on there. Duncan went and read the bill and responded directly.”
Duncan told his constituents via Facebook that he would not vote in favor of the bill.
Many opponents of the SOPA bill say it promotes Internet censorship.
Duncan has a following of more than 4,000 people on Facebook and around 970 on Twitter. Duncan frequently writes about his faith, public appearances and bills he either supports or opposes in Washington.
Technology continues to move forward and the latest trend to hit Capitol Hill are smart phone apps.
Andrew Foxwell is the manager of marketing and new media at iConstituent, the leading provider of online communications for members of Congress. Foxwell said iConstituent has released 15 apps for congressmen so far and there are “a whole bunch more” in production.
The apps usually consist of press releases, photos, YouTube videos and forms to contact congressional offices. Some apps feature a survey for constituents.
Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C., recently appeared in a promotional video for the new WhipCast app. The app is designed to allow constituents to keep track of key legislation by receiving updates from the office of the House majority whip.
He is another one of South Carolina’s popular social media users. He has the second-largest following on Twitter out of all the representatives, just after Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.
Clyburn has more than 7,000 followers to Scott’s 3,500. Clyburn and Scott created their Twitter accounts within months of each other in 2010; Clyburn has been in office since 1993, while Scott is in his first term.
Clyburn’s delayed start with social media raises the question of why some politicians are still hesitant to sign up. Those that are hesitant have usually been in office for decades and come from an older generation. There’s no incentive for this group of politicians to join any social media network, according to Foxwell.
A study conducted by the think tank L2, which analyzed the Digital IQ index for the U.S. Senate, found that Republicans are some of the most followed users on Twitter and that they overall have a greater online presence. The top three most followed politicians on Twitter are Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., with more than a million followers; Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio; and DeMint.
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