These days you hear all kinds of heartwarming stories about politicians or celebrities using Twitter. Usually the fact that their using the platform is the entire story. Not so here:

The Saint Louis Beacon ran a story the other day that wasn’t really about Twitter at all, but about legislators in MO scrambling to get a certain bill passed.  Only in this case, the reason they were scrambling was due to a bit of information tweeted by the Floor Leader of the MO House.

 

The state Capitol snapped to attention Monday when Missouri House Majority Leader Steven Tilley sent out a “tweet” on his Twitter online account that laid out his predictions about any legislation’s chances.

Tilley tweeted that a bill must pass the House this week — and be on its way to the Senate — “to have a realistic chance of passage” before this legislative session ends May 15.

 

By broadcasting his little tidbit of advice, Tilley did more  than get featured in a column about using a new tool communicate, he actually used the tool to create a news-worthy event. 
 

Quick Hit: Tweet Creates News is a post from: MatthewPBlock.com Matthew P. Block Enterprises

Here’s what Shane tweeted:

The main (thing) I will be considering is how to hold the HWY Patrol accountable for the MIAC report. The language was too broad & labeled
2:25 PM Mar 22nd from txt

too many good patriots & Missourians as potential terrorists for expressing their viewpoints as they should thanks to the 1st amendment!
2:28 PM Mar 22nd from txt

You can see Dave’s report on his political blog here

Just a simple example of how putting yourself out there online reaps rewards beyond the online world.

New Media Usage Leads to Traditional Media Coverage is a post from: MatthewPBlock.com Matthew P. Block Enterprises

1. Use Twitter (or something similar if a competitor emerges):  No other medium has the real-time ability that Twitter does.  With journalists always looking for up-to-the-minute info to show that they’ve got the best and fastest news coverage, this can translate to increased media coverage (read: free advertising?).  Twitter can also be a great way to bypass the old media machine and generate your own buzz.  Plus, to post tweets, you just have to send a text message with that Blackberry or Iphone you’re already using.  Twitter definitely has the lowest technical learning curve of any new media.

2. Use Facebook (extensively):  Everyone knows Facebook is a great way to reach young people, but if you think that’s all it can do you are very much mistaken.  Facebook is reportedly growing at an alarming 600,000 active users each day and most of those are adults who have realized that the Facebook is a great networking tool.  You want these people networking with you!  In the 2010 campaign, Facebook will be the number one tool, not just for improving your image and name recognition, but gathering and organizing volunteers, raising money, and everything else you do in a campaign.

3. Blog, blog, Blog!:  Okay, maybe I shouldn’t use the word “blog”. I know a lot of people are confused about what constitutes a blog.  Here’s the main idea: a blog is simply a way of publishing information yourself in an easy to find place instead of needing other media outlets (reporters, newspapers, etc.) to publish your info for you.  When campaign season comes around again, every campaign website should have a blog with the latest information constantly being posted for people to find and follow.  The RSS feeds contained in blogs makes it easy for other sites to automatically republish your posts (increasing your reach) and easier for supporters to follow you (with RSS readers).  The bottom line is that people want information from you, and they want it updated often.  A blog is designed to do just that, making your voice heard to a wider audience and delivering better content to those who listen.

Now comes the most important step!

4. Start doing these things Now!:  Don’t wait until campaign time to try to adopt new tools.  Start using them now!  Practice!  Your first several blog posts won’t accomplish what you want them to.  When you text in your first Twitter tweet, hardly anyone will notice.  These are tools that take time to learn how they’ll work best for You, so don’t expect to pick them up when you need them and be able to see a sudden change.  You have to get comfortable with them (just like anything else that’s new) and you might as well get comfortable before everyone starts watching you to decide how to place their vote.  You can start a blog simply posting the newsletter you’re already emailing to select constituents, and add other content as you find it useful.  Tools like Twitter and Facebook are also dependent on networking and building connections, so you want to have those connections in place before it comes time to tap into them.  If you wait until campaign time to adopt these tools, it will look like a stereotypical campaign, out for votes and money and nothing else.  If you start now, you can show that you actually care about your constituents and their opinions and participation in the governing proces.

Are there other suggestions I’d make?  Of course there are!  But I really think these four are the most critical.  The theme behind all of these suggestions though is simply communicating with people better.  These tools and methods offer ways to improve communication and anyone who really wants to stay connected to their constituents should certainly take a look at them.  Try them out.  If you don’t find them useful, at least you tried.

Which of these are you already doing?  Which are you going to try out first?

The Future of Political Campaigns is a post from: MatthewPBlock.com Matthew P. Block Enterprises

Twitter, for those who don’t know, is a micro-blogging platform. What that means is that every post you make is limited to 140 characters.  For example:

I just wrote a post about how I use Twitter to help me connect with other people and how I can get business referalls from people that I have met on Twitter. You can read it at http://conversations.purecaptures.com.

This example, short as it may be, is way too long to be a tweet (that’s what you call a post on twitter).  It’s 215 characters.  However:

How I use Twitter: http://bit.ly/3DZ7nk

This is short and sweet and makes a perfect tweet! Notice the shortened URL; this heads to the same place as the long ones.  Heading to bit.ly gives you a place to auto-generate a short URL to save characters.

Now, enough about how Twitter works; here’s how I use it!
I have a couple main goals on Twitter: connect with people with expertise in my field(s), and connect with people in my region.  Twitter’s search function helps me to accomplish both of these goals.

To connect with people in my field, all I have to do is search for tweets with keywords I am interested in.  For instance, if I want to find people talking about Twitter tips, I could just search for “twitter tips”.  Simple enough.  Then I go down the line of results and see who is saying things that actually look interesting.  I click on their username and read several past tweets to see if they are consistently posting things that I’d like to know about.  If so, I follow them.

To connect with people in my region, Twitter search has a handy tool called Advanced Search.  Using the advanced search feature, I don’t even have to search for any keywords.  I can scroll down to the place option and search for people within X miles of any location (in my case usually Springfield, MO).  Then I follow the same procedure.  Browse through the results to see who is saying interesting things and follow those tweeps (twitter people, I know twitter terminology can be pretty riduculous).

Of course, I try to post plenty of useful and interesting information myself so that other interesting people will find and follow me (I don’t want to have to do all the work of expanding my network).  In addition, I try to reply to others’ tweets anytime I have something interesting to add to the conversation.  These conversations and interactions among people on Twitter are the real gem of the micro-blogging phenomenon.  When you interact, you can actually begin to form relationships and genuinely expand the network of people you know.  And of course, I never miss out on an opportunity to meet a fellow tweeter in person (after all, who wants to sit behind a computer or blackberry all day?).

One last tip, if you take every opportunity to help others on Twitter pass along important information, your experience will be much richer.  Not only will you be able to help others, but you may eventually be known as a resource to get important messages out to your network.  This means when people have hot information, you’ll be the first one they come to with it.  This is a pretty good place to be.

If you’re new to the Twittersphere, feel free to follow me (@mattblock) and ask any questions along the way to help you get more comfortable and learn how to make Twitter most useful for you.

How I Use Twitter is a post from: MatthewPBlock.com Matthew P. Block Enterprises