Twit for Tat

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Like Chris Matthews' relegation of the item to his "Sideshow," in "A Tale of 140 Characters, Plus the Ones in Congress," the Washington Post describes how legislators in the audience from both sides of the aisle listening to Obama's first State of the Union speech were using the microblogging service Twitter. Writer Dana Milbank also offers some editorializing on the phenomenon:

It's bad enough that Americans are paralyzed by economic jitters. Now the president has to deal with lawmakers paralyzed by Twitter. At a time of national emergency, when America needs the focused attention of contemplative and reflective lawmakers, they are dispatching rapid-fire thoughts in 140 characters or less.

Tech President responded with some irritation to what it perceived as a Luddite critique.

Like many, I used the CNN/Facebook interface to watch Obama's address, so I could see the comments of friends and digital media scholars around the nation. I was also checking Twitter and looking for the #nsotu hash mark.