Capitol Hill and Social Media: How These Platforms Are Transforming Business As Usual in Washington

Have you ever called or written to your elected officials in Congress concerning an issue you felt strongly about? Most of you probably haven't. How about follow your elected officials on social media? Many political officials across the aisle and at all levels of government are using social media as a way to engage with their constituents and give them an inside look into the daily happenings inside the beltway and on the campaign trail. As of fall 2015, almost half of lawmakers in both houses of Congress are using social media to communicate directly with their constituents.

Which politicians are on social media and what is the extent of their reach? A recent study conducted by the Organizing Center, a bipartisan political advocacy group based in Washington, DC, has compiled research into these questions by identifying and analyzing how lawmakers and their offices are engaging with constituents by studying  lawmakers’ social media accounts and ranking them on a quantitative index. In order to quantify this information each member of Congress was assigned a social media responsiveness index or SPRI score which was based on four components: 1) the size of the officials' Facebook audience, 2) the openness of the Facebook page to comments (can the constituents leave a comment on the page or is it restricted to posts shared by the lawmaker) 3) how many followers the lawmaker has and 4) how the lawmaker interacts with their followers on twitter.


A recent Facebook post from Sen. Warren-MA on the passing of Justice Scalia
 

Senator Cory Booker of NJ received a perfect SPRI score of 2 on the assessment and was the only Democratic senator to receive a perfect score. I have followed Senator Booker on social media for several years, since he was the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He has always been very good on social media, his posts range from personal like diet and exercise, asking constituents in need of help to call his cell phone directly through direct messaging exchanges. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of MA, who is known for her fiery viral
videos of speeches from the Senate floor, received a score of 1.



An example of a personal share by Sen. Booker
 

On the Republican side, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott matched Mr. Booker’s score of 2, and along with Texas Sen. John Cornyn (1.5) and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley (1.3) were listed as the “Red State Social Champions” for the ways in which they use social media to keep their constituents engaged. The study also revealed that during the period used to quantify, August 2015, that Democrats were generally more responsive on their social media but that congressional Republicans had more followers.



Sen. Grassley-IA known for being colorful and animated on Twitter

 

Sen. Cornyn-TX on voter ID laws

The advocacy group conducting the study advises that if your elected official has a high SCRI ranking then it may be good to reach out to
via social media, otherwise a traditional call or letter might be the better way to go to get the response that you need. This study may help to illustrate how social media can be a new and yet important tool for lawmakers to gauge their constituents views on difficult issues and also help to craft and communicate their ideas and their vision. How might this information change how you interact with your elected officials? Will you give them a follow or a tweet next time you want your voice to be heard? Interested in learning more about your elected officials stack up? Visit the Organizing Center to learn more about this and other work they have done on social media in politics!