The Impact of Twitter Adoption on Lawmakers’ Voting Orientations

Abstract

Social media has been found to be influential in a variety of contexts. From mobilizing the crowd in social movements to helping refugees settle into a new country, social media has had a significant impact. This study examines the role of social media in Congressional representation in a democratic political system. The authors study the impact of U.S. Representatives’ Twitter adoption on their voting orientations in the 111th U.S. Congress. The authors find that Representatives’ adoption of Twitter causes them to vote more in line with their constituents. Furthermore, the effect of Twitter adoption is more salient when a Representative’s party differs from the party affiliation of the constituent or when the Representative represents a Twitter-savvy state. The results also indicate that the volume of tweets directed at Representatives signals the importance of certain bills to constituents. When Representatives vote on bills that are the focus of a large volume of constituents’ tweets, Representatives vote in a manner more aligned with their constituents’ opinions. Interestingly, the opinions the tweets express do not significantly influence their votes, suggesting that Representatives are aware of the potential bias in opinions cascaded in tweets.