2. CITIZENS representatives
INTERNET
media
“communication tools and
patterns via new media platforms”
*during non-election periods
**at subnational levels
3. quality of media Political Knowledge
Trust in Government
Political Participation
4. ?
• 30 million users
• 19% white, 18% hispanic,
26% black
• demographics getting younger
• real-time network
communication
• passionate and proactive
community
• fast-paced; mobile friendly
5. State of the Twittersphere
• 79.79% failed to
provide a homepage
URL
• 75.86% of users
have not entered a
bio in their profile
• 68.68% have not
specified a location
• The average user tweets
.97 times per day • 55.50% are not
• The average user has following anyone
tweeted 119.34 times in
• 54.88% have never
total
tweeted
• The average user has a
following-to-follower ratio • 52.71% have no
of .7738 followers
9.06% of all Twitter users are inactive (LESS THAN 10 followers, 10 friends, AND 10 updates)
(Hubspot, June 2009)
6. how many NYS politicians tweet?
Assembly - 17 of 150 Senate - 21 of 62
3 accounts have less than 3 tweets 3 accounts have less than 3 tweets
7. 114
118
45
48
122
113
47
124
112
115
138 62 56
132 117
139 134 135 128 116
142 120
144 140148 131 133 119 60
61 55
110 50 44
144141 143 60 54
121 49
145
130 129 111 105 109
59 43
58 51
146 106
127 46
147
125 104
123 108
150 136
57 53
149 137 52 41
126 107
101
42
103
98 102 34
81
83 100 36
33 39
72 90 31
96 40
78 99
86 80
82 97
77 89
79 94 38
71 76 34
95 92 32 35
70
938891
Mamaroneck
84 85 30 37
87
69
68 27 Mamaroneck 28
67 26
36 35
65 26
29 11
73 34 22 12
75 13
37 39 24
74 16
66 50 30
28 25
33 17 15
53
Brooklyn
14
Brooklyn
64 25
38
32
52 57 56 54 29
55
43 18 20
51 44 40 10
58
42
31 21 19
61 48
49 23
22
59
47
staten staten
63 41 27
46
island 45
island
24
60
23 14
62
huntington 2
huntington
station 4 1 station 1
9
St james
7
coram St james
2
coram
roslyn Roslyn
15 5
New York State New York State
10
16 13
6 3 7
3
Assembly Districts Senate Districts
5
17
6
21 18 11 8
islip
4
islip
14 12
19 Most active cities in NY State using Twitter 9
8 Most active cities in NY State using Twitter
20
(source: Google Trends 4/6/2010) lynbrook freeport (source: Google Trends 4/6/2010)
lynbrook freeport
Highest rate of tweets week of March 15-22, Highest rate of tweets week of March 15-22,
2010 2010
First adopter First adopter
(My own data and Google Trends)
8. Most recent tweet, both Houses
70
60
50
40
Member
30
20
10
0
18‐Feb‐09 9‐Apr‐09 29‐May‐09 18‐Jul‐09 6‐Sep‐09 26‐Oct‐09 15‐Dec‐09 3‐Feb‐10 25‐Mar‐10 14‐May‐10
Members tweet, on average, less
than once per week
9. No
ve
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
m
be
r‐0
Ja 8
nu
ar
y‐
09
Fe
b ru
ar
y
M
ar
ch
Ap
ril
M
ay
Ju
ne
Ju
ly
Au
gu
Se st
pt
em
be
r
Oc
to
be
No r
ve
m
be
De r
ce
m
Month of Adoption
Ja be
nu r
ar
y‐
10
Fe
br
ua
ry
M
ar
ch
Number Adopted
followers; average is 223+
1 Brooklyn Senator has 995+
10. types of tweets
Averages do not accurately reflect
tweeting habits on an individual basis
11. suggestions
• Consistent names of legislators’ accounts (eg NYSSenateJones)
• Verified Accounts
• Links to member’s other urls - gov and social networking
• List location, district, and bio
• Engage more with local media outlets in district
• system of tagging bills, topics of debate
more tweets!
more conversation!
12. future opportunities
• Interview individual elected representatives
• Follow representatives into election time
• Study local media outlets that cover political news
• Determine how to promote Twitter to citizens
• Develop a system for how gov can use Twitter
