Forget Blogging, Start Tweeting

I think anyone running for anything should be on twitter, using it the way it is meant to be used. I tried to convince Jim Neal's people to get Jim on twitter, but they wouldn't take the idea to him. Someone like Brad Miller would be a natural to twitter.

But, at the same time there just are some things you can't say in 140 characters. Now, if you mean, "If you've been in office for 8 years and STILL aren't blogging, skip it." However, I think any new candidate or anyone relatively new to office should consider blogging if they are just finding out about it. Because positions matter and details matter. Maybe not for everyone, but for the core constituency that is going to volunteer for you it does.

I can't call myself an early adopter of many things, but I was pretty quick to join and "get" twitter. I really, really hope that more public officials take advantage of it. For instance, Chapel Hill Councilwoman Sally Greene recently stopped blogging. I would hope her twitter account would become much more active, as an outlet for her thoughts. ESPECIALLY when she has a very good influence living under the same roof.

If you're an elected official and you aren't blogging already just skip it.

For most electeds I agree. Unless you're really committed to regularly articulating your positions and ideas into original editorials, twitter (or something twitter flavored) is going to meet your need. And, because the time commitment is much less, electeds are much more likely to participate in an authentic fashion.

Folks who want to read press releases the communications intern wrote can go to the website; twitter is short and sweet enough to come from the horse's mouth (or at least be more convincing).