"Twitter is primarily a messaging tool for politicians, but if you watch closely, you might just find a funny mistake or even a scandal in the making."

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Politicians on Twitter: the Gift That Keeps on Giving

Lawmakers may try and hide their 'whoops' moments, but someone is usually watching.

By Curtis Sprung, August 27, 2014

Who tweeted the following, a member of Congress or someone just posting about their day? “God I love this song. And beach music. AND shagging.”

Online for nine hours, this was tweeted from the account of Rep. Steve Fincher, R-Tenn. The tweet got media attention while it was live, and Fincher’s communications director admitted to accidentally being logged into the wrong account when she tweeted the message.

Many politicians today use Twitter as a means to connect with their constituency in a quick and public way. But the service is so easy to use that mistakes are common, and tweets are regularly deleted.

The watchdog group Sunlight Foundation operates a site called Politwoops, and it archives most of the deleted tweets from politicians.

“A lot of times they’ll react from breaking news and they’ll hear from the party or staff and then change it,” said Nicko Margolies, project manager for Politwoops. “That’s the purpose of the site, to catch those messaging changes.”

Funny tweets like the one from Fincher’s account aren’t uncommon. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., tweeted, “Enjoying the vacay and realizing I have no idea what I’m doing in the game of golf.” An innocuous tweet, but the accompanying photo of the golfer in question was decidedly not the congressman.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp deleted this tweet less than a minute after it was posted.

“I have yet to see a slowdown for the entertainment value of this project,” said Margolies. “I still love it.”

Archived deleted tweets also include gibberish, either from an accidental pocket tweet or a child getting hold of a phone or tablet. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., tweeted out the nonsensical “P.P.P oOP” but caught the error and deleted it in less than a minute.

Not all of the deleted tweets are staffer mistakes or goofy errors; sometimes congressmen run afoul of House rules that prohibit advocacy using official resources. The popular ALS ice challenge has swept the nation, and many politicians took part and raised awareness for the deadly disease, tweeting out challenges to other politicians or members of the community. The House Franking Commission warned all members that they could not promote any charity or cause via official means, and soon after many members deleted their tweets of the challenge.

The most memorable case of Twitter abuse by an elected official was the scandal surrounding Anthony Weiner. The former U.S. representative accidentally tweeted a sexually explicit image of himself. It was swiftly deleted, but the image had already been saved, and an avalanche of evidence ultimately led to his resignation.

Cases like Weiner’s aren’t common; Twitter has been around long enough that most using the service understand that once a tweet hits the Internet, someone somewhere has seen it – possibly saved it. Twitter is primarily a messaging tool for politicians, but if you watch closely, you might just find a funny mistake or even a scandal in the making.
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