* Illinois Issues magazine has a long feature on social media and Illinois politics. I highly recommend that you go read the whole thing. Here’s a snippet…

The only caucus that does not have its own social media presence is the House Democrats. “A lot of that is because the individual members do those things, and that seems to work well,” says Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan. […]

John Patterson, communications director for the Illinois Senate Democrats, says he views the caucus’ social media presence on sites such as Facebook and Twitter as a way for people to keep up on what their senators are doing and be aware of things such as local events that may not always make headlines. “People are always kind of wondering what do state employees do, and I would like people to know that throughout the day, we’re doing all kinds of stuff, and we should have that reflected in what’s going out on Twitter, going up on Facebook or going on our websites,” he says. Patterson says that Senate Democratic communications staff started off on those platforms because it seemed kind of obligatory, but he says that in the last few years, they have really been working to step up their social media game. “In the last two years, we’ve had a big focus on trying to figure out how to use them as communication tools so that we just don’t have a Twitter account or a Facebook account, [but] that we’re actually using them as part of a communications plan and try to use them to grow an audience.” He says that providing information as basic as updates on committee scheduling, which are generally slow or do not happen on the legislature’s state-run website, helped to grow the caucus’ following online. “We quickly noticed a lot of people, particularly lobbyists and reporters, following our Twitter account so that they would know what’s going on in committee rooms, so they knew where they had to be at what time.”

* The Question: Should the House Democrats establish a social media presence? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.

…Adding… Illinois Issues’ blog features an interview with the guy who runs the “Da Speaker” parody Twitter account…

Q: How do you come up with your tweets/ set the tone of the account?
A: I try to keep it in the realm of exaggerated reality. What’s the speaker thinking that he’d never say aloud? It’s satire. Just for fun. A little edgy at times. I avoid cheap shots, I hope. I react to the news of the day. The ideas are the sort of smartass remarks reporters make to each other when passing time between stories.

Q: Are you surprised by the reaction/amount of followers? especially since you don’t tweet very often. Do you plan to continue indefinitely?
A: I’m amazed it has gained a following among people who understand politics. It’s a great audience.

Q: Do you plan to continue indefinitely?
A: I’ll continue until I’m no longer amused and/or until someone gets close to identifying me.