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Blackberries, Tweets, and YouTube: Technology and the Future of Communicating with Congress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 April 2010

Colleen J. Shogan
Colleen J. Shogan
Affiliation:
Congressional Research Service
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Extract

From the establishment of the United States Postal Service and the invention of the telegram, to the introduction of C-SPAN and the explosion of the Internet, the development of new communication technologies has always affected the functioning of Congress. Not surprisingly, recent innovations such as e-mail and social networking have spurred Congress to alter the way it operates as an institution, and rethink the manner in which it engages the public. In this brief examination, I discuss recent changes in congressional behavior and practices due to technological innovation, specifically the proliferation of social networking Web sites. Then, I cautiously predict future trends in the use of social networking and related technologies as they become more integrated in congressional offices and increase the capacity for more robust internal and constituent communications over time.

Type
Symposium
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 231 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2010

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