What’s With Washington, D.C.’s Avalanche of Facebook Stories?

By Betsy Rothstein on July 26, 2011 10:53 AM

A sweep of publications around town finds an abundance of stories about Facebook. WaPo. NJ. Roll Call. They’re all writing them.

On Sunday WaPo ran a first-person account of one reporter’s decision to give up Facebook. Today NJ‘s Ethan Klapper, a recent AU graduate, writes about how Capitol Hill offices prefer Facebook for Social Media. His lede: “Congress would rather friend you than follow you, a new study says.” Not surprisingly, the study shows that staffers 30 and older think Social Media is worthwhile while those 51 and older are not so convinced.

Roll Call, in the meantime, has two Facebook-themed stories today. Features Editor Ryan Teague Beckwithwrites about how lawmakers make Facebook personal — well, predominately one lawmaker. His story focuses on 58-year-old Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) and his Facebook habits. An intriguing detail comes three fourths of the way down when he reports that Miller has received ex-Rep.Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) type messages from strangers. “There are a few perfect strangers who worry me a little bit,” Miller tells Beckwith. “I think it might be an Anthony Weiner-like setup to draw me into something that would be politically embarrassing, so I obviously avoid that. And it’s not my nature.” (Yes, we should hope it’s not his nature to send snapshots of his johnson to female fans.)

In a second Facebook story, Beckwith’s Roll Call colleague Daniel Newhauser addresses the study that Klapper does above.

WaPo‘s Sunday offering was Innovations Editor Emi Kolawole‘s first-person account of why she can’t quit Facebook. The editor warned her friends and family, quit, and then signed on again — for WaPo. “Facebook: 2, Me: o,” she concluded. Most readers sympathized with her dilemma about staying or leaving as Kolawole expressed on Twitter how much she was enjoying reading the comments. But one reader, probably not someone the editor ought to friend, sounded completely fed up. “What a waste of space and ink (on a Sunday to boot)! Who cares about your Facebook issues! This has to be one of the worst articles in the Post all year.”