Introduction

Twitter, an increasingly popular social networking site, … is taking Congress by storm. As of last count, 121 members of Congress are “tweeting.” It’s the new media answer to long floor speeches, and anyone who’s anyone on Capitol Hill seems to be doing it … Tweeting during Obama’s speech was a source of laughs for comedian Stephen Colbert, who joked that even the president was doing it: “OMG, totally addressing Congress. LOL. Mitch McConnell looks like a turtle” … All comedy aside, lawmakers who embrace new technology understand that the Internet already has drastically changed the political landscape, said Rep. John Culberson, a Republican from Texas who claims to have been the first U.S. politician to chat with constituents through a computer back in 1987. “Whether we like it or not, the electronic information superhighway will force us all to change. It’s not survival, it’s evolution.”