6 Tweets to Show How Politics Thrives on Twitter

Palin gets a nice two for one here. She uses her (admittedly sparingly used) Twitter to give props and create a dialogue with a newsmaker - something that can often happen between two politicians and even as a way for politicians to communicate with their base. The second tweet turns her kudos to Santorum into a restatement of her politics, another way politicians can use twitter to connect with voters - if the media doesn't ask you how you feel about something - take it to Twitter!

Here, Virginia Governor shows us a good example of how executives uses Twitter. Barack Obama does this a lot to. The goal is simple. Tell your twitter followers that you really think this piece of legislation currently flowing through Congress is a good piece of legislation. It raises awareness and let's twitter followers who might not have seen it in the news say, "Hey, that is a good piece of legislation, I hope my Senator supports it!", and then the calls and emails to a Senator's office start coming in. Using Twitter to get people involved and interested in government is a great way politicians use it.

Similar to the executive's call to action, Politicians can take to Twitter to make calls to action against things. Sometimes, this is unrelated to politics (We saw a lot of representatives condemning Joe Paterno in the wake of the Penn State scandal) but we can also see it when scandals erupt with persons of interest, such as the claim that Joe Arpaio is soft on sex crimes, which was in the recent news. Now, this can be a lot more risky going forward, because you never know how the things you say can be twisted, or viewed as just piling on - but it's a way to connect with people on Twitter.

Now, we've looked out some of the many ways politicians can use Twitter to connect with their voters, how can the news media use Twitter to better cover politics?

Here is one of the most simple ways Twitter can broaden reporting; we've seen it a lot since Twitter came to be: Tweet out a question you will be discussing later in the show. Followers tweet their responses and viola! Instant man on the street for the broadcast. Broadcasters get "What people are saying" to add context to a big story, and viewers get to feel involved in a news broadcast, which will make them want to view it. This is just an old news tactic evolved for the 21st century, and it still works like a charm.

Though less tactful (especially when done it all caps like you see here) than involving your viewers in your broadcast to get them to watch, you can capture their attention with a nice teaser tweet about what your next broadcast will be able. Maybe tell them you have some breaking news, or just letting them know who you're interviewing. It's a little more invasive into someone's Twitter feed, but it can still be very effective in getting them to watch.

Finally, this is my favorite use of Twitter. Want to be out in front of the pack or have more to a story you just told that you want viewers to see? Tweet it! Twitter has become a great place to make soundbite clips or create breaking or headline news that doesn't really merit a full 600 word story. You can easily place something like this on Twitter to get a dialogue going while you a churning out a longer story about the issue. You can also use Twitter as a way to get a powerful quote in that didn't make it to the story (and then include the link to the story) to keep people interested in what your stories are.