Various tweets by House members reacting to Rep. Paul Ryan's selection as the Republican vice presidential nominee may have violated Congressional rules, the Sunlight Foundation* reports. Read More

The White House uploaded video over the weekend of President Barack Obama answering questions on Twitter after delivering remarks May 24 in Newton, Iowa. The president, who appears to be a touch-typist, is enthusiastic after posting a tweet that took up all 140 available characters and not a letter more. "I'm the master Twitter!" he exclaims, as one of the staffers in the room calls the tweet a "twoosh." Read More

Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: Joshua Boschee is an openly gay candidate for public office in a socially conservative state, but observers say he's got a real shot at becoming one of Fargo, North Dakota's next representatives in the state legislature.

Boschee's home state of North Dakota has, according to one study, the lowest proportion of same-sex couples in the United States. It's a conservative state, although "conservative" means something different in the only state in the Union with a state-owned bank and a state-owned grain mill and elevator.

The 30-year-old activist and assistant director of leadership and organizations at Minnesota State University is a special case in part because he and his campaign manager say social media is offering him a competitive edge. People he might not otherwise know how to find in a city like Fargo, such as people who respond to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues but aren't already a part of LGBT-focused communities there, he can find on Facebook instead. And when he builds his constituency anywhere, he says, he immediately sees those persuadable voters following up to find out more about him online.

Almost two-thirds of the 193 UN member states can be found on Twitter according to a “Twiplomacy” survey carried out by public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. While President Obama may have the greatest number of followers in the Twitter realm, he ranks low on engagement: only one percent of his tweets are replies. And the Obama account is only following two other world leaders, Norwegian President Jens Stoltenberg (@JensStoltenberg) and former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev (@MedvedevRussia). Read More

At one level the XXXth Olympiad that starts Friday in London will be the most social Olympics ever. Athletes, volunteers, spectators and the media covering the event will be armed with an ever-greater array of social media tools on their smartphones and computers, and the ability for social networking is greater than at any games that has taken place in the past. But that should not be news, right? Every Super Bowl or World Series is going to be more social than the previous editions, simply as the requisite technology becomes more mainstream, and the boundary between mainstream and social media becomes more blurred. Instead the right question to ask is whether the way social media like Twitter or Facebook are being used during these games is maximizing their potential, and – if not – what lessons can be learned for the future. Read More

It wasn't just CNN that jumped the gun Thursday morning by publishing the wrong headline. A number of members of Congress, in the rush to break the news on Twitter prematurely, sent out messages celebrating the overturning of the Affordable Care Act. They've since deleted the tweets, but the Sunlight Foundation's* Politwoops web site, which tracks members of Congress' deleted tweets, has retained the posts for posterity. Read More

Actor Josh Charles has often tweeted about his support for high-speed rail and gay marriage rights. Actress Eva Longoria recently tweeted her support for President Obama's new illegal immigration policy. In the future, could such celebrity endorsements all become much more coordinated, mirroring the Kony 2012 effect? That's what singer and songwriter Smokey Robinson is betting on. Yesterday he announced a new initiative to harness Twitter as a tool for celebrities to raise awareness and help promote good causes. One close observer of online activism says this kind of online buzz is nothing but a "silly idea." Read More