Follow Friday: @RepJudyChu

{mosads}The Hill Q: Do you write your own tweets?

A: “I write as many as I can because it’s a fun way to connect with people, but sometimes the demands of my job make it impossible. On those occasions, I tell my staff what I want to tweet about and let them find the hashtags and handles to spread my message.”

Q: When did you join Twitter?

A: “After completing my first term, I was looking for a better way to connect with my constituents on a regular basis. Newsletters and websites are helpful in reaching people, but they aren’t always the best outlets for sharing my work on a day-to-day basis. Twitter has become my way of sharing daily developments. At first I was skeptical that information could be shared effectively with such heavy restrictions on message length, but all it took was one look at the ability of hashtags to amplify a message to convince me that Twitter was a valuable tool, and I just needed to become accustomed to communicating within the character limit.”

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

A: “As a member of Congress, I work on so many issues that aren’t ‘sexy’ enough to be covered by a major news outlet, but are still extremely important to my constituents. Twitter has allowed me to move beyond news cycles and provide important information to the residents of my district. It has also allowed me to forge personal bonds with the people I represent. There’s nothing more gratifying than having a constituent come up to me and ask about something I’ve tweeted about, or comment on a picture I’ve shared through Twitter. It lets me know that my efforts are having a positive impact on my district.”

Q: Example of a “best” Twitter moment?

A: “My best Twitter moment came when I tweeted during a committee markup and a national reporter saw the tweet [and] decided to do a story on it. As a result, countless more Americans all across the country learned about the issue we were working on, and I got a first-hand demonstration of the power of a tweet. The fact is, Twitter will take a message as far as your imagination allows. The clever use of a hashtag or handle timed at the right moment might mean the difference between only reaching a few people, or spreading your message to millions more who then might then re-tweet, or in my case, report on what I said.”

Q: Example of a “worst” Twitter moment?

A: “I don’t really have a ‘worst’ Twitter moment. There have been plenty of times when I wanted to live-tweet pictures from my cell phone and couldn’t get a good shot, or wanted to send a tweet but missed an opportunity to use a trending hashtag that would have helped spread my message. These things happen, though, and there’s always next time. I tend to focus on the positive impact that Twitter has had on my ability to reach constituents rather than think, ‘woulda, coulda, shoulda.’ “

Follow Chu @RepJudyChu, where she now has 2,559 followers.

Previous “Follow Friday” Twitter profiles have included Democratic Reps. Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), Mike Honda (Calif.), Jim Himes (Conn.), Rush Holt (N.J.) and Jared Polis (Colo.) 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.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.), as well as the Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.