I keep reading media articles that position politicians such as U.S. Rep. Jared Polis as technology-friendly leaders who use social media to connect with constituents, and I have to shake my head. Rep. Polis has 2,439 Twitter followers, and he has followed a grand total of 59 of them back. To Rep. Polis, Twitter appears to be just another bullhorn through which he can spread what he wants constituents to hear. And he isn’t alone:
- U.S. Sen. Mark Udall – 2,016 followers; follows 10
- U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman – 1,140 followers; follows 17
- U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter – 714 followers; follows 9
- State Sen. Josh Penry – 185 followers; follows 9
The power of social media is in creating relationships – or at least engaging conversations – with people who matter to you (and to whom you matter). Of the major elected officials in Colorado, only one at least makes an effort to create the appearance he uses social media to listen to constituents:
- Gov. Bill Ritter – 2,149 followers; follows 2,002
And, surprisingly, a significant number of high-profile Colorado politicians aren’t even using Twitter yet:
- U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet
- U.S. Rep. Diana Degette
- U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey
- U.S. Rep. John Salazar
- U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn
- State Sen. Brandon Shaffer
- Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper
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I would love to see more Colorado politicians frolicking in these tweet-scented waters.
I will personally provide floaties to any interested parties.
– @pugofwar
Comment by Ef Rodriguez June 17, 2009 @ 8:50 amI appreciate that you listed those (the one) doing well and those making a try. Great post.
Comment by Elizabeth Jumel June 17, 2009 @ 11:29 amThanks for putting this list together. I knew that a lot of them weren’t following back, but I was actually surprised to see that Ritter is doing a decent job. I agree with Ef and would like to see more politicians in the Social Media world.
@twodogszk
Comment by Zach Knaus June 17, 2009 @ 2:54 pmThis annoys me to no end as well. Especially when companies don’t follow back. What, you don’t care what your customer is saying? For politicians, I wonder if it is because they don’t want the DMs?
Comment by Elaine Ellis June 18, 2009 @ 8:56 am