Capitol Tweets about budget

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Capitol Tweets about budget

Politicians enter Twittersphere to fight for dollars
Social network Twitter grows into political tool

Twitter has come a long way in its six years.
It began as a social media service that sounded at once sublimely simple and supremely self-involved. It allows users to share their thoughts with the world with just one limit: Each update can be only 140 characters long.
But the service has long since evolved from geeks updating each other about their coffee breaks. Twitter has become a powerful political tool that allows direct, in-your-face communication with top policymakers.
Anyone with Internet access can use the service at www.Twitter.com. Signing up for a free account lets users make lists of favorite people to follow, allowing a stream of updates to flow across a single web page.
Twitter has evolved a language all its own. Because of the 140-character limit, abbreviations are common.
Everyone’s name begins with an @ symbol. For example, this reporter’s name is @joehanel.
And to make it easier to find tweets from many users on the same subject, people use the # character, known as a hashtag. Posts about the Colorado Legislature usually use the hashtag #coleg or #copolitics.
Most state legislators have a Twitter account, including the top leaders. Some notable Twitter feeds include @hickforco (Gov. John Hickenlooper), @ScottRTipton (U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton) @SenShaffer (Senate President Brandon Shaffer) @RepMcNulty (Speaker of the House Frank McNulty) and @BrownJPaul (state Rep. J. Paul Brown).
The service works on scales great and small. Most Colorado politicians have follower lists that number in the hundreds or thousands, and they see many of their followers every day in the state Capitol.
In contrast, the world’s most popular Twitter feeds belong to pop stars Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) and Justin Bieber (@justinbieber), who have 21 million and 19 million followers, respectively.
The most popular political Twitter feed belongs to President Barack Obama (@barackobama), who has 13 million followers.

Reach Joe Hanel at [email protected] or Twitter @joehanel.