Tweeting the President
I have written about Twitter before and how I wasn’t sure how effective it actually is. Personally, I use the network to promote my blog, but little else. I have no interest in telling everyone what I am about to eat or where I am about to go. It can not be denied however, that Twitter continues to gain popularity and that is even more evident now, with officials from the White House tweeting the news to their followers. From The Associated Press, via Yahoo:
If you’re PressSec — White House press secretary Robert Gibbs’ username on Twitter — you join the powerful social media platform and push your message across the Internet, 140 characters at a time.
Blending behind-the-scenes nuggets with a defense of President Barack Obama’s record, White House and administration officials increasingly are communicating through Twitter.
The popular social network is operating as a Web-based clearinghouse for public statements on weighty subjects (the federal budget) and the mundane (personal grocery lists). It’s similar to a bulletin board where anyone can post short notes and users cull the pieces they see by choosing to “follow” individuals’ account.
Forget press releases. Gibbs and his deputy, Bill Burton, are now sharing news in Twitter messages. So far 33,000 people have signed up to follow Gibbs and more than 6,000 are tracking Burton. Those two officials have a ways to go to catch actor Ashton Kutcher and his 4.6 million followers.
There obviously is a fun side to all of this, as a lot of people are following Gibbs and his deputy to get an “inside” look at life in the White House. In other words, what President Obama, his family, and others who reside in the White House are doing in their downtime. For some, that is more interesting than what they are doing while working and I am sure makes for a pleasant distraction. I find it a little interesting myself, hence this article, instead of something more serious.
Honestly, I don’t have a problem with Gibbs or anyone else using Twitter as they are using it. They have to know of it’s popularity and they are using it as a means to an end. More power to them, I say, but I have to ask one question. Just how much real information can anyone send or receive in 140 characters? I can see a tweet being used as a teaser, to get someone interested and get them to start digging into the story, but not much else.
So, I will be tweeting this article after it is published, hoping to attract more readers. I may even read a tweet or two or three, but for real news, I think I will read a newspaper or blog article. They may be harder to digest the information, but it will be worth it in the end.
I think a better question is how much of an in-depth conversation are our elected officials having with the American people if they are relying heavily on Twitter and what not. That’s a really deep conversation!
I think it highlights this White House’s perception that the American people are only able to understand “simple” conversations (Valerie Jarrett).
I have no problem with Twitter per se, but I think this administration needs to get back to business and forgo some of the socializing! I want to see solutions to our problems not repeated tweets!
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I have to agree…time spent tweeting is time wasted. I didn’t realize the WH had the luxury of time spent on Twitter. Get to work!
I have three twitter sites, and only use them to promote my many blogs. I never go their and type in those 140 characters. Just use twitter to get my post links in. Have about 5000 follows total on the three site and do get some feed back. That kind of online gossip is not my cup of tea.
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I honestly don’t get the whole twitter thing. My blog automatically tweets my latest posts and I have that set up– as do the rest of you– just to promote my blog. Other than that I find it a waste of time. Pehaps I just don’t get it.
I agree… I use it for my blog and that’s it. I think the key is choosing the right people to follow. It also sucks when your account gets hacked and inappropriate messages are sent to your followers.
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