I found this article in the economist about Twitter for politicians. I know I should know more about Twitter, but I don't. I have only heard about it for celebrity gossip etc. I thought it was interesting that companies and now politicians are using it in everyday life rather than just for campaigns. Barack Obama used it during the 2008 elections, hiring 100 people to deal with his social networking accounts. Now over 400 Japanese politicians, Hugo Chavez, Denis Coderre, and Sebastian Pinera use it as well.

This idea of politicians using Twitter makes it seem as though these icons, for many people, are more accessible when in reality they are not even reading the "tweets" or responding to them personally. Here is a quote from the article:

"The days when tweets involved a sweaty-thumbed real-life politician giving candid thoughts on the day’s events may be passing. Risk-averse politicians are likely to make their tweets bland, and bland tweeters may be less likely to be followed. Once politicians understand that everything is public, they are much less likely to offer the unadorned truth, at least to ordinary voters."

Do you agree with this comment? Do media outlets like this sometimes seem new, exciting and "activist" at first but the more people use it, the more diluted it becomes?

What do you think about how Twitter has and will affect politics all over the world? Will it change public perception of these people?

Here is the link to the article:

Politics and Twitter: Sweet to tweet