1) The 116th Congress was one of the five least productive Congresses in the last five decades, according to an analysis by Pew . 2) The 116th Congress produced more than 2.2 million tweets and Facebook posts combined, eclipsing the totals of the 114th Congress by more than 738,000 posts, again according to PewThese two facts are, as you might guess, related. And the surge of social media over the last decade has now fundamentally altered it. Members of Congress see social media then as a way to cut past the traditional path to power. Of course, what the social media shortcut, uh, shortchanges, is the actual work that members of Congress are elected to do.

Source: CNN January 26, 2021 15:22 UTC