Members of Congress and Presentation of Self on the World Wide Web

The Internet has become an important means by which members of Congress communicate with their constituents. Although a number of studies have examined the content and features of congressionalWeb sites, how members of Congress present themselves on theWeb has yet to be addressed. A content analysis of the images displayed on the home pages of 100 senators and 244 House members who served in the 107th Congress reveals two distinct presentations: an “insider” style and an “ outsider” style. The results vary, moreover, by chamber, seniority, gender, and race. Within each party, the most significant differences were by gender, with Democratic women the most likely to present themselves as outsiders and Republican women the most likely to present themselves as insiders.