Over on the Twitter stream, several voices are speaking out. Official voices. Elected voices. Speaking directly to constituent and non-constituent, alike.

They are shaping their message to fit their agenda in a one-to-many environment that leaves Democrats like me shaking my head and wondering if my party of choice is going to surrender social media to the Republicans the same way we’ve surrendered talk radio. With the lone exception of Rachel Maddow, talk radio is nearly exclusively the province of the Rush Limbaughs and Sean Hannitys — shrill voices in an increasingly volatile political landscape.

When @ericjodom posts tweets calling for bloggers to join the movement to call Congress back into session (despite the White House rejecting the idea), he’s sending a one-to-many whistle out. And he’s clever, framing it around a message of Democrats lacking compassion for the poor by refusing to come to the table and vote on energy issues. Of course, he fails to mention that: a)the so-called energy “plan” is no plan at all; and b) nothing in that so-called “plan” would change anything for anyone for YEARS.

The clarion call has been sounded by John Culberson (R-TX), who fully understands the value of using social media to shape his message and his audience. As I write this, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio and House Minority Leader) is sending links out promoting the Republican energy plan, as well as the puppet media publications for the GOP like the Wall Street Journal, Fox News. and others.

What are the Democrats doing? The official ones, that is, because those of us who are Democratic voters are definitely on Twitter following these guys and pushing back. Guess what, they actually answer, too. Democrats, on the other hand, are being stupid, yes, even Barack Obama.

There is a NancyPelosi account on Twitter. It has 77 followers and follows no one. It’s used for broadcast purposes only, and the content being broadcast can be picked up from any number of other sources sooner. By not following those who are following this account, there is no opportunity for direct dialogue with voters or constituents.

Barack Obama is following 56,004 people and has 53,500 followers. He has a tremendous opportunity to use Twitter to shape his message in real time. Last Friday when the now-debunked flip-flop accusation about Obama’s energy policy emerged last week, he had 53,500 reporters who would gladly have broadcast the REAL message in REAL time. Instead, the account is used as a one-to-many calendar update — I’m here, doing this. I’m there, doing that. Watch me on live TV, yada yada yada.

How do you suppose the flip-flop message got such traction? Here’s how: real time characterization of it as a flip-flop, transferred to mainstream media, amplified by Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and mainstream media.

This is enormously frustrating to me. When I think about how powerful it is to communicate directly, especially in a Presidential campaign that is about change and innovation, seeing the Republicans hijack social media is like watching the price of oil climb to $200/barrel. Frustrating, infuriating, and disheartening. Bankrupt.

Listen to me, elected Democrats. If you want to shape your message, go create accounts on Twitter or better yet, identi.ca. Set yourself up to autofollow, and set up an IM account with laconica@west.spy.net as one of your contacts. Then start tracking some terms, like your name, and issues. I’d suggest tracking these terms: healthcare, energy policy, Democrats, flipflop, for starters. When people mention those terms, the messages will push to you.

ANSWER THEM. If you don’t answer on Identica, at least you’ll understand how to frame it in the press. But what you are doing now is nothing, and you might as well hand over the loudest microphone on the network to your opponents and invite them to abuse it, and you, at will. Most importantly, you’ll own the message rather than entrusting it to those with an agenda.

Want help? There are a zillion social media consultants itching for a job that would help. Most of them inhabit Twitter regularly. Get on it. And Identica. Figure this out and USE it to your advantage.

UPDATE: Wiki Page Listing CongressPersons with Twitter accounts here

Congressmen John Culberson (R-Tx) and Tim Ryan (D-OH) are on Twitter, and regularly send updates to Twitter directly from the House floor. Rep. Culberson in particular understands the value of interacting with others via Twitter and Qik, and has engaged me and others in some spirited discussions of issues coming before the House. He’s great at engaging and discussing the issues transparently, even if he is a Republican.

I view this as a huge leap in political communication. No longer constrained by the “official” responses, these representatives choose to directly speak to anyone who follows them on Twitter, and tell us what’s going on.

Unfortunately, there are some Democrats in Congress who take a dim view of any communication with voters that isn’t “official communication”. This includes video and text communication, evidently. Earlier today this came through Twitter from Rep. Culberson:

I just learned the Dems are trying to censor Congressmen’s ability to use Twitter Qik YouTube Utterz etc – outrageous and I will fight them

Based on the rules set forth in the document below, every communication any House member sent to Culberson would have to be vetted and disclaimed before it could be posted. Obviously that’s not acceptable.

Although I won’t go so far as to call them “Supreme Soviets” as Culberson did in a followup on Twitter, it’s obvious that the folks who drafted these rules have no understanding of what Twitter is, why it matters and why they cannot and should not attempt to squelch communication from elected Representatives to the people who elected them.

At this point I’m assuming that it’s ignorance and not malfeasance. But Culberson is right about this: If we don’t protest this obvious violation of the First Amendment they’ll succeed at silencing someone who is attempting to actually do what he was elected to do — represent the people in his District and communicate with them. The fact that his communication is in real time makes it more meaningful than any vetted and disclaimed statement would be.

I suggest writing Nancy Pelosi and Michael Capuano to let them know that the Congress should not be BANNING social media; it shoudl be embracing it.

Remember, the First Amendment specifically applies to speech in public places. I can’t think of a more public place than the floor of the House of Representatives.

(h/t Technosailor)

UPDATE: The GOP suggestion for added language to allow for Twitter, Friendfeed and other social media sites. Be sure to check Aaron Brazell’s post (Technosailor) for other updates.