Posted on 10/28/2012 4:05:32 PM PDT by markomalley
The Secret Service has expanded its operation to Twitter, urging Americans to report on their fellow citizens whose tweets “concern you.”
“To report a tweet that concerns you, call the nearest field office in your state,” the Secret Service tweeted on Oct. 23. The agency then links to a list of contact numbers for Field Offices in each state.
The Secret Service sent another tweet on Wednesday, again asking its followers to report tweets. “Contact your nearest field office with time-sensitive or critical info or to report a tweet,” it said.
The agency has accrued more than 44,000 followers since joining the social media platform on May 9, 2011. Twitter surpassed 500 million user accounts around the world earlier this year, 140 million of which are in the U.S.
Twitter has become a popular platform for political engagement, as demonstrated by the surge in tweets during the three presidential debates. Twitter reported that the first match-up between President Barack Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney on Oct. 3 was the “most tweeted-about event in U.S. politics,” with 10.3 million tweets and as many as 158,690 tweets per minute.
“By comparison, during the 2008 debates between Obama and John McCain, only 500,000 tweets were created total during all four debates,” according to PRO OnCall Technologies. “The first two minutes of the Obama/Romney debate saw two million tweets.”
In September, a North Carolina man was arrested for threatening to kill President Barack Obama on Twitter.
Interestingly, or not, no mention of all the tweets threatening Mitt Romney. As I recall, the result was that the SS said they would investigate only ‘as needed’.
Yo, Secrect Service, there’s a terrorist camped out for the last four years in the oval office.
So how many tweets have threatened zer0bamao?
How many have threatened Romney?
I’ll venture the ratio is at least 10:1 more threats against Romney.
But I don’t expect the SS to act on any of those threats any time soon. Like all government agencies, they have been heavily politicized.
I’m concerned about a tweet. I think a sparrow out back has the flu or something.
ALL of Prez Obama’s tweets.
And, Moochelles, too...
Neil Diamond has been singing TWEET CAROLINE.
TWEET HOME ALABAMA by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Attack Watch lives!
Secret Service?
More like Big Sis concerned about Rightwing Extremists?
The Chinese are putting tweet and sour sauce on their food!
I tink I taw a putty tat.
There is this dude called DNC that has me really concerned. He has been posting all types of crazy stuff.
I think he may need some talking to.
Tweet needs to warn us about a Ballroom Blitz.
The president is a failure. When will it end?
Who will bell the cat?
Imagined tweets.
Some idiot at HQ who is far removed from field work probably thought this up and found a few more bureaucrats like himself to make the idea become policy. Social media is fast. Govt is slow. By the time someone makes a phone call (there is a whole generation who rarely even makes a voice call), a govt employee forwards the report to a superior who decides to act on the tip and assign it to an agent... well you get the idea. If someone wanted to misdirect the resources of the SS, this new program might be a great help to them.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, tweets, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, to tweet, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
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