Should U.S. Politicians Use Twitter?

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After I read this article from the AP about Rep. Pete Hoekstra supposedly revealing his “precise whereabouts”, on Twitter, while he was traveling in Iraq and Afghanistan, I had mixed feelings on the issue.

On one hand, we’ll say the left hand to give you a good visual, he is just like you and me; a human being living in the ever increasing “communicate/live/breath via technology” world that we live in. Why shouldn’t he be able to have a Twitter account, and why shouldn’t he be able to update it with what he wants where he wants and when he wants?

Then on the other hand, the right hand to keep that visual going, he is United States politician and he was traveling through, what I would call, dangerous territory (though I personally have never been to either country). A terrorist cell, or some crazy person in general, may enjoy receiving updates on where Hoekstra is so that he can go snatch him up and hold him hostage. Or something crazy like that.

So, I just don’t know what to think. Should he, and the other U.S. politicians on Twitter, keep Twittering or should he leave that up to the rest of us?

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