GOP is 'out-tweeting' Dems in Congress

Republicans are using social media far more than Democrats, according to a new study to be released Thursday.

The "Twongress" report shows that 89 Republicans are actively tweeting, compared to 43 Democrats. The divide is especially apparent in the House, where 42 percent of the Republican Conference is tweeting, while only 12 percent of the Democratic Caucus has found a Twitter audience.

House Republicans are most active and are following many times more individuals on Twitter than House Dems. In the Senate, the split between Republican and Democratic tweeters is more narrow. But it appears Senate Democrats have more clout on Twitter, despite their smaller numbers.

A few highlights from the report:

— Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has the most followers of any senator, with nearly 1.6 million

— Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has the highest number of tweets

— Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), House minority leader, has more followers than any other House Republican. Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) comes in second

— Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) leads House Republicans in clout and influence

Hillicon Valley reported this trend back in November, but it's nice to have some validation. We'll post the link to the report as soon as it goes live this morning.

The report was put together by Mark Senak, partner at Fleishman-Hillard in D.C.

Cross-posted to the Twitter Room.