Follow Friday: @MarshaBlackburn

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has been in Congress since 2003, but has only been on Twitter since last year. She quickly learned to use Twitter effectively to share her positions on legislation and to offer breaking news and information regarding media appearances. 

She revealed her passion for the microblogging tool in this week's Follow Friday Q&A.

A: For the most part, I do. I email them to our two communications staffers so they can add in the hashtags and the Twitter handles. I let them know when I’m headed into meetings, or hearings, and ask them to tweet out video links or pictures so I can be fully engaged in the meeting.   

Q: When did you join Twitter? 

A: @MarshaBlackburn came into being in the spring of 2011. I’m always on the lookout for new technology, new ways to hear from folks in my district. I love the concept of a virtual you, and joining Twitter was a natural fit for me. It took some time to figure out how best to use Twitter so it’s not just another platform that pushes out the same information. Four thousand two hundred and fifty followers later, I’m still tweeting the meetings, the pictures and the funny moments in being a part of Team Blackburn. 

Q: What do you see as the most significant purpose of Twitter for you?

A: It’s instant engagement. Tweeting that I’m headed to a committee hearing, tweet the link to watch, and hear from constituents on what they’d like to ask — it’s great! It makes government immediate. For the constituent, it’s a great way to voice their opinions and concerns and keep people engaged in what’s going on in their government.

Q: Example of a "best" Twitter moment? 

A: The two communications staffers on Team Blackburn affectionately refer to themselves as #TeamHashtag and have a tendency to email in hashtag only, which can be hysterical. My team and I can be a bit competitive, so in the recent House New Media Challenge, we launched the #FollowMarsha hashtag and took the competition down to the wire (gaining almost 500 followers in a week!). The best Twitter moments happen when we tweet out policy that is wrapped in culture — like a tweet to Adrian Grenier about Aquaman and TSA. Any time I can advance our job-growing, economy-recovering policies, I’ll take them!  

Q: Example of a "worst" Twitter moment?

A: No worst Twitter moment, but one of my staffers did break our YouTube channel on one of her first days on the job!

Connect with Blackburn @MarshaBlackburn, where she currently has 4,325 followers.

Previous "Follow Friday” Twitter profiles have included Democratic Reps. Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), Mike Honda (Calif.), Jim Himes (Conn.), Rush Holt (N.J.), Jared Polis (Colo.), Judy Chu (Calif.), Jackie Speier (Calif.) and Chellie Pingree (Maine) and Republican Reps. Bob Latta (Ohio), Glenn Thompson (Pa.), John Shimkus (Ill.), David Schweikert (Ariz.), Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), Billy Long (Mo.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) and Geoff Davis (Ky.), as well as the Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.