No dice. It seems that people in power are just using the service as a sort of bullhorn. Shout through it, ignore anything that shouts back.
I'll be puttering around with it a little more over the next few weeks. Ideas are welcome.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Twitter: An Echo Chamber?
So I tried doing a little experiment on Twitter, to see if I could prod at politicians and get some sort of response. The idea was that twitter is about as close as you can come to a form of modern, standardized poetry, if people chose to use it in a poetic sense. Everyone gets 140 characters to compose a little message that gets blasted off for the world to see. Especially "high power" people like politicians who use the service as well. It's got potential, right?
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Adam, first off let me say I love the idea. I always think it's funny to get the attention of the 'Twits' on Twitter. I think politicians are hard to get into a bind on Twitter. Often their pages are supervised or even maintained by someone on their staff. The politician barely has any true involvement in the process.
ReplyDeleteCelebrities on the other hand are much easier to get the attention of. I've been a member of Twitter and don't consider myself an avid user. A nonsensical comment here, a picture there. Not much in the day to day use. Yet, I was still able to garner the attention of three celebrities. I was able to get the attention of the bassist for my favorite band (Stefan Lessard - Dave Matthews Band), and a former heavyweight John Popper of Blues Traveler. In fact I bickered back and forth with Popper about him complaining about not playing in a concert and his previous issues with being arrested.
Celebrities are much more likely to flap their gums and respond than a politician who is watching their every move.
Greg's got a good idea, Adam. . . companies, too, pay folks to keep an eye out for their hashtags: I had great luck getting a refund from jetblue over twitter when I was stuck with a snow-cancellation.
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome idea! I've never actually used Twitter, which is weird because I'm an avid Facebook fan! But yeah, I'm kind of alarmed by politicians use of it...i feel like it's okay for celebrities but who really knows who is behind it! Donald Trump/Joe Biden's daughter have been having a 'Tweet War' I heard (through E news). Would love to hear your opinion on it!
ReplyDeletePoliticians having time for creative tweeting? Maybe they feel that it is beneath them or would not help them in garnering public support in their ultimate goal of political success.
ReplyDeleteI think your idea is innovative and fun -- too bad these are not adjectives often used to describe politicians.