More of the Great Dean Heller Twitter Experiment

Having done the first tweet, in what had now become my Great Dean Heller Twitter Experiment, without any signs of being shut down or asked to pass the baton to the real Heller, I realized it meant I was probably stuck posting press release snippets (here's the 6/4 cached version from Google) until someone actually noticed.  That, though, would happen soon enough.

The Blogger's Wife and Tweet Congress

Although most members of Congress don't use Twitter, it hasn't been for a lack of trying on the part of Tweet Congress.  It's an organization that not only posts members' tweets, and tries to cajole those who don't, but is also the de facto clearinghouse for people who want to follow twittering congressional members.  And that's where the next part of the story picks up.

After two tweets, my Heller account had about 15 or so followers.  But that would change on February 26, 2009, when a wife of another Reno blogger took exception to Tweet Congress's assertion that northern Nevada's Congressman wasn't on Twitter.  She contacted the organization and they quickly added Heller to their list.  By the end of the week the account had over 100 followers and would continue to add daily until the account was closed early Monday morning.

The Followers

At first it seemed like Heller's followers were just those who were curious and decided to follow anyone in Congress who twitters.  I would click on their page and in a lot of cases it would be just a singular "I'm giving Twitter a try" or "Goin to bed now" tweet.  In fact, I think an entire civics class from a Nebraska continuation high school was required to follow Heller and Co. as an assignment.  But then the conservative activists started to come in as well as a handful of fellow congressmen.

Up until that point I hadn't been following anyone, since many seemed pointless and others were a little on the extreme side (I'm waiting for the "Do you know who Congressman X follows on Twitter?" hit pieces in 2010), but figured it would be bad form if you shunned your coworkers.  So I made it a point to follow any member of Congress who came across the Heller account.

It was also about this time I began to see some media pop up as followers.  There were a couple national figures, but the bulk were local TV reporters.   In Nevada there were a handful from Reno but, interestingly, not a single newspaper reporter followed.  No Anjeanette Damon, Molly Ball or Jon Ralston bothered.  Maybe they knew better.  Not wanting to call any further attention to the account, I made it a habit to never return the follow with media members.

Tomorrow:  The Ensign inquiry and the media takes notice.  I know I said those would appear in this post but I think I rambled enough today.

Part 1: My Great Dean Heller Twitter Experiment Comes to an End
Part 3: Some Trouble on the Heller Twitter Front
Part 4: How the Heller Twitter Experiment Was Discovered

The Google cache of the Original Congressman Dean Heller Twitter account.