Learn to share with 'the public'

In the Netherlands, a politician got a reprimand from the prime minister about the fact that he put a photo on Twitter. This photo was taken in a 'closed' meeting room. Although the photo does not display anything that should not be displayed, the prime minister was 'not amused'.
Later that same day, the politician put another photo on Twitter that was taken from his own office (with the remark that he was was not limited in his own office).

The politician that did this (Maxime Verhagen) is using the web to let his 'followers' know what he is doing and gives some insight in his daily work. This is (apparently) very uncommon for (dutch) politicians. With Twitter, he is also communicating with people that he would not speak otherwise. It is very easy to make a reply on a tweet of Maxime Verhagen or ask him a question using Twitter (and he responds most of the time). Imagine that you would otherwise have to write an e-mail (if you would know the e-mail address of course) or letter to make a simple remark (if you would know what the politician is working on) or ask a simple question. That seems to have a larger threshold than just a simple line in Twitter.

Via my Google Reader, I also follow the blog of Barack Obama. I am interested in how he uses the 'modern' ways to communicate with the public. He makes sure that there are regular blogposts, regular video's (placed on YouTube instead of some official government site) and he invites people to give their opinion via the web. His own website or the website of the White House gives a much more dynamic and personal feeling than for example an official site of the government or of the Prime minister in the Netherlands (I have to admit that I was surprised to see the option to an RSS feed!).

I think most politicians can learn something from Barack Obama and Maxime Verhagen about sharing with 'the public'!