Twitter -- A Tweet for Congress and You

Many of us remember how the U.S. presidential campaign for President Obama was made successful largely in part to mobilizing supporters through online grass roots effort such as his campaign website (which was a good example of Web 2.0 connectivity and design).

According to a post on the Washington Monthly, many Republicans in Congress have finally embraced technology and are countering Democrats by reaching out to constituents and supporters via Twitter, a free online social messaging service. Twitter lets users leave one-line comments (called "tweets") up to 140 characters discussing what they are currently doing. Users can also connect with others and "follow" others' daily tweets.

In fact, according to a news story yesterday on KCBS, 2/3 of Congressional Republicans are on the Twitter service. The most active "Twitter'er": Texas Republican John Culberson. On the Democratic side, the winner of the most tweets goes to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And the most followed Twitter user? Former presidential candidate John McCain who admitted having little computer saviness and referring to his vetting process for his running mate as a "Google".

Not only is it an effective tool for informing others of one's daily thoughts, status or political ramblings, but Twitter can also be a highly useful marketing tool for a business. Businesses can tweet about latest deals, upcoming discounts, new product arrivals, etc. and have clients follow them and stay "in the know" for when that good deal comes along. It's a perfect solution to the old adage "out of sight, out of mind". And Twitter connects to other social network sites such as Facebook, letting businesses reach even more audiences.

It's easy, popular and free, so go ahead and try Twitter. I think you'll find it a real "tweet"!