At first, I didn't "get" Twitter. But then I stopped, took a deep breath, and started engaging and connecting through Twitter.
Once I "got it," I started thinking about how I would soon deploy the modern technology with Republican politicians.
Here's what I'm thinking...
No candidate for President of the United States has time to write much of anything other then thank you notes to (large) donors, influential supporters, and editing their upcoming speeches. That's just a fact of life.
However, most, if not all, candidates for POTUS are connected to their campaign via blackberry or cell phone and certainly have time in between campaign stops to keep "us" updated on what they're doing.
The only question they need to answer to keep connected with us more effectively: "What are you doing?"
Now, calm down pessimists. I'm not asking for much. I'm only asking the Presidential candidates let me opt-in to a way to connect that I'm digging.
In fact, I've taken the liberty of creating a twitter account - Twitt3ringPOTUS - and have made a few updates to show you how easy this would truly be (image):
The simplicity and beauty of a twittering President would be that their entire network of blog supporters, myspace friends, etc. could add this badge to their space. The result would be a better amplification of that candidate's message. Think about this next time you're trying to meet a fundraising deadline and need to get your call-to-action out as wide as possible.
Look, I know I'm optimistic about the smarter use of technology, but I can't find a downside to a real, live candidate actually connecting with me on my IM or cell phone. For the first time, they'd be guaranteed that I actually read what they're saying.
So here's the call to action, if you agree with me (or are at least a tad curious) about how we could use this technology effectively, simply add Twitt3rPOTUS as your twitter pal. And BTW - if you're not yet connecting on twitter - run, don't walk - it's that fun.
It'll be our first twitter online petition. Likely not the last.
Revolution.
UPDATE 12:21 PM: Surprise! John Edwards and/or his staff has been twittering for a while. He has about 2,000 followers and his last post was six days ago. Again, I'm talking about seriously twittering - not just a novelty.
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Serious Twits
I'm not sure if there can be such a thing as "seriously" Twittering when every idea has to be condensed into 140 characters or less. ;-)
In fact, Edwards was posting just the kind of thing you mentioned until last month when his staff started posting twits instead of himself. Witness:
Updates are now decidedly duller:
BTW, our fellow blogger Fred Stutzman just published a great article at dev.aol.com: The 12-Minute Definitive Guide to Twitter.