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In the Yahoo! News, July 23rd post, TMT: Too Much Twitter, they discuss the controversy surrounding politicians using Twitter.

“If the medium is the message, then what’s the message when politicians use 140-character tweets to talk about their state’s dire economic circumstances or ethics charges?

Yesterday, embattled Govs. Sarah Palin and Arnold Schwarzenegger addressed career-changing (or ending) issues facing them…on Twitter. Palin was responding to a new report on ethics charges against her, tweeting:

‘Re inaccurate story floating re:ethics violation/Legal Defense Fund;matter is still pending;new info was just requested even;no final report.'”

According to the Christian Science Monitor blog, 115 politicians are using Twitter. But, how much information and communication with constituents is too much?  There is no doubt that we are in a new era of social media awareness and the proper balance is likely yet to be found.  Below are a couple of links to articles past and present regarding the political Twitter controversy.

Politicians using Twitter: Morons or visionaries?

Blog discusses various political tweets that politicians have used along with viewpoints on this tweets.

“Political analyst Charlie Cook isn’t a fan of Twitter. Or at least politicians’ use of the social messaging tool.

Cook opined a couple days ago that he has ‘yet to hear a single intelligent remark twittered by an elected official.’

Maybe that’s because you’re bound by the medium. You’re only only allowed 140 characters each time you ‘tweet’.

No matter to Cook.

‘The vacuous utterances Twittered daily from members of Congress make me wonder how they have the time to spend keying in on such banalities and marveling over the narcissism implicit in their belief that anyone cares about their every single thought and reaction to contemporaneous events,’ he writes.”

Terrorist ‘tweets’? US Army warns of Twitter dangers

This is a post from October 25, 2008, warning of potential Twitter dangers.

“A draft US Army intelligence report has identified the popular micro-blogging service Twitter, Global Positioning System maps and voice-changing software as potential terrorist tools.

The report by the 304th Military Intelligence Battalion, posted on the website of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), examines a number of mobile and web technologies and their potential uses by militants.”

Security Fail: Congressman Pete Hoekstra Twitters “secret” trip to Iraq

This article is from February 2009:

“I think it’s wonderful that more politicians are beginning to discover social media tools and use them to add transparency for their constituents.  The problem is when people like Pete Hoekstra, representative for Michigan’s 2nd District in the US House, go and ruin it for everyone.”

It is perfectly understandable and appropriate that politicians are working to become more and more “touchable” by those that have elected them. There is certainly a great deal of respect that elicits. However, as our world has made a major shift in the methods and frequency of communication, ‘best practices’ of politicians in reference to social media are bound to become more controlled.

 

The Internet Privacy Condition: How You Can Find out Almost Anything about Almost AnybodyThe Internet Privacy Condition: How You Can Find out Almost Anything about Almost Anybody
Corporate Responsibility Goes By Many TermsCorporate Responsibility Goes By Many Terms