Personally, while I do agree with Professor Nyblade’s friend that Twitter is not an adequate platform for real political analysis, I do think it can serve as a forum for political debate (in the expression of personal opinions), and, more importantly, as a means of political mobilization by increasing awareness and encouraging participation.

Regardless of whether or not what is being ‘tweeted’ is limited to ‘superficial name calling and quips,’ these kinds of micro-blogging statements are more interesting, understandable, and accessible to most of the population than, say, substantive political analyses in the Canadian Journal of Political Science. Moreover, there are numerous examples of well-educated, witty political pundits who are able to make fairly substantive statements with the brevity required for a Twitter post. Thus, in the interest of engaging the public with politics, both through the Tweeters’ expressions of opinions and their Followers’ subsequent awareness of the topic, Twitter can be a valuable resource.