In the first five months of 2020, the median Democrat U.S. Congress member tweeted an average of 130 times per month, up from an average of 68 tweets per month during the same period in 2016. Twitter has become an increasingly important tool in U.S. politics and is a popular channel for politicians and activists to amplify their messages and comment on current events.
Median member of U.S. Congress’ average tweets per month in the first five months of 2016 and 2020, by party ID
The source collected every Facebook post and tweet created by every official and unofficial account maintained by every voting member of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives between Jan. 1, 2015, and May 31, 2020. The resulting dataset contains nearly 1.5 million Facebook posts from 1,388 congressional Facebook accounts and over 3.3 million tweets from 1,362 congressional Twitter accounts.
In most cases this report characterizes social media activity by members of Congress in terms of averages and totals based on the median representative. When examining a particular party or timeframe, researchers first compute the relevant statistic for each member – such as their total number of posts or their average reactions and shares per post – and then select the representative in the middle (the 50th percentile).
When viewed as a simple total or average, many social media metrics (such as posting volume or audience engagement statistics) can be skewed by a small number of particularly prolific or popular users in a way that obscures the day-to-day reality of the majority. Therefore, the median serves as a useful baseline for measuring the behavior of the “typical” member of Congress and tracking widespread trends across Congress as a whole. As such, the words “median” and “typical” lawmaker are used interchangeably throughout the report.
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Pew Research Center. (July 16, 2020). Median member of U.S. Congress’ average tweets per month in the first five months of 2016 and 2020, by party ID [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved October 05, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1136127/us-congress-average-tweets-first-five-months-party-id/
Pew Research Center. "Median member of U.S. Congress’ average tweets per month in the first five months of 2016 and 2020, by party ID." Chart. July 16, 2020. Statista. Accessed October 05, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1136127/us-congress-average-tweets-first-five-months-party-id/
Pew Research Center. (2020). Median member of U.S. Congress’ average tweets per month in the first five months of 2016 and 2020, by party ID. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: October 05, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1136127/us-congress-average-tweets-first-five-months-party-id/
Pew Research Center. "Median Member of U.S. Congress’ Average Tweets per Month in The First Five Months of 2016 and 2020, by Party Id." Statista, Statista Inc., 16 Jul 2020, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1136127/us-congress-average-tweets-first-five-months-party-id/
Pew Research Center, Median member of U.S. Congress’ average tweets per month in the first five months of 2016 and 2020, by party ID Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1136127/us-congress-average-tweets-first-five-months-party-id/ (last visited October 05, 2024)
Median member of U.S. Congress’ average tweets per month in the first five months of 2016 and 2020, by party ID [Graph], Pew Research Center, July 16, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1136127/us-congress-average-tweets-first-five-months-party-id/