By Miranda Davis

KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA – For Stephanie Clayton (R-Overland Park), using Twitter was part of her community activism before she was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives.

Now, it’s part of her daily routine. Clayton uses the #ksleg hashtag to track her votes and explain her stance on complex issues.

For Clayton (@SSCJoCoKs), being on Twitter and being engaged with social media has been an overwhelmingly positive experience.

Online harassment is at a minimum, she said, and when it does happen, the followers that like her usually drown out the few who don’t. More often than anything else, it’s other legislative representatives who send her mean tweets, she said.

“You would think since I’m a female politician, it would be like Gamergate, but it’s not,” Clayton said.

Gamergate refers to an online campaign attacking female game developer Zoe Quinn. Clayton started tweeting from local government meetings, and when she was elected to the House in 2013, she felt the need to continue.

She not only tweets about the big and complex votes, but also the smaller ones that may be less interesting to her constituents.

As always, #ksleg Twitter, you have been great! It is so rewarding to have the opportunity to interact with all of you.

— Stephanie Clayton (@SSCJoCoKs) May 2, 2016

  “It’s nice because it keeps me honest, and frankly, it helps me keep track of my vote,” Clayton said. “I think my constituents really like it because whether they think it’s right or wrong, they know what I’m doing.” Clayton said that for her, despite the backlash from other representatives, it is worth it to keep tweeting.

She said that she is unique in the way that she tweets every single vote and most of her actions relating to her job. She said that while more and more politicians are doing it at the national level, it is pretty rare to see it at the state level. “Politicians just don’t do that. It’s very new, and they don’t do it,” Clayton said.

“They don’t know how to handle it.” However, Shawn Sullivan (@SSullivan66610), the state budget director, also uses Twitter to explain the budget to Kansans. “Following a budget presentation or press conference, if I see something that needs clarification or is factually inaccurate, I will often correct it through Twitter,” Sullivan said in a statement. He also said that it’s a way to get information out to news sites. “I also know that the political beat reporters are active on Twitter and will see the information I post on #ksleg,” Sullivan said.

The official Twitter handle for Gov. Sam Brownback (@govsambrownback) has more than 14,000 followers who receive tweets about press releases and the governor’s activities.

“Our goal is to communicate Governor Brownback’s vision to make Kansas the best state in America to raise a family and grow a business, so we utilize multiple platforms to reach every Kansan across each demographic,” deputy communications director Melika Willoughby said in a statement.

“Twitter allows us to instantly announce the Governor’s latest actions, share photos and conversations as he visits with Kansans from across the state, and post stories about the positive impacts of his policies.” It’s unclear whether the governor’s office monitors tweets that mention or reply to Brownback’s tweets.

For every one of Brownback’s tweets, there can be a dozen responses, many of which are negative. For example, the governor’s office tweeted this message: “The Obama administration is undermining the refugee resettlement program by refusing to provide adequate security assurances. #ksleg”

One user replied, “You’re undermining the refugee resettlement program by refusing to participate in it because of the people seeking refuge.” The #ksleg hashtag and social media use by elected officials can turn bad in an instant. The hashtag use usually gets more intense during the hot-button issues, with more and more people engaging when they feel it’s something they need to sounds off on.

Anyone can use the hashtag, which can have a powerful effect. In a 24-hour period from May 4 to May 5, 218 users posted 517 tweets with a total of 1,437,440 impressions on Twitter, reported Keyhole.co, a website that tracks analytics on hashtags.

Edited by Leah Sitz