Why I don’t follow you.

Obviously I think twitter is a great communiciation tool. Many folks have commented that I should follow more people. One recent blogger has declared that I’m arrogant since I only follow one person. Let me try to explain why I don’t follow more people.

Early on I realized that for me to do this myself I had to be realistic about time constraints. Most members of Congress who tweet have staff help on their tweeting. In fact, many members have their staff actually do their tweets for them.

I took a different route. I decided I would do this myself. It would be me, and only me. Some weeks I tweet a lot, others not so much. But without fail I read every single tweet I receive. Ok, maybe I gloss over a few “form” tweets, but I sincerely make an effort to read all. So I get lots of opinions and thoughts from thousands of people. Every day. It truly is two way communication.

If I followed people I would get so many tweets about so many subjects, it would be so much harder for me to get through all the tweets to find those that relate to my work on behalf of Missourians. I get close to 10,000 letters and emails a week in my Senate office just from Missourians.

I could take the easy route and say I’m following thousands of people. But that would feel dishonest because I really would not have the time to read all of their tweets and would have to zoom through hundreds to seek out those tweets that are asking for help, or expressing their opinion on an issue facing us in the Senate.

I like twitter. Not many Senators have embraced it. I believe it does ground me and provides an easy way to stay close to what people are thinking out there. Please feel free to tweet me anytime by including @clairecmc in your tweet. I direct message folks all the time if they are following me. If not, many times I just reply to them.

Thanks so much.