Allen West "Most Engaging" Twitter User in Congress
Categories: Allen West
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Just after Christmas, Congressman Allen West sent out two tweets about a colonoscopy he'd just had -- short, innocent messages; one used the phrase "doggone bran cereal." Like most everything else on Twitter, they should have just passed through the ether and quietly disappeared. Instead, 71 people retweeted them.
And, for West, that's actually far below his average of 112 tweets per message, according to media consulting organization OhMyGov. In an analysis of congressional Twitter feeds released yesterday, West came out as the most "engaging" member of congress by that measurement.
West's average spreads his messages far past his 36,000 followers and puts him far ahead of
the second-place tweeter, congressman and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.The first-place ranking also seems to jive with his most recent campaign finance numbers: Required disclosures revealed that West has received contributions from all 50 states during his first term, during which he's made a national name for himself by going on television a lot to say tough things.
While most of West's tweets are far tamer than his public appearances, his account hasn't been without pseudoscandal -- he fired an intern last summer, according to Roll Call, after the intern retweeted a pro-gay message from the Scissor Sisters band. After the renegade retweet was discovered, West tweeted that he was "very sorry," because, after all, nobody follows West to hear any crap about accepting people and being kind.
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