The Hill News

Ninety percent of the freshman GOP class is now participating in social media through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, according to the office of Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.).

Although McMorris Rodgers, as vice chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, has encouraged social media use among the conference all year, the freshmen class has shown the most initiative in the ongoing GOP 2011 New Media Challenge, which entered its fourth week Monday.

Four freshmen â€"Reps. Joe Walsh (Ill.), Allen West (Fla.), Tim Griffin (Ark.) and Dan Benishek (Mich.)â€" made it through the first three rounds with their use of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to compete in the “Elite Eight” round. The Elite Eight will compete on all three social media networks over the next three weeks and engage in head-to-head competition until a champion is named June 24.

The competition is designed in brackets. Winners are chosen by counting followers on Twitter, “likes” on Facebook and upload views on YouTube.

“What we’ve essentially done here is take a sports concept, and applied it to politics and government," said McMorris Rodgers. "The competitive spirit is key to driving Members to pioneer and adopt new and innovative approaches in the digital space. So far that has yielded impressive results: 100,000 YouTube views, 10,000+ Twitter Followers, and 10,000+ Facebook Likes â€" not to mention the best practices we’re seeing emerge.”

According to McMorris Rodgers’ office, 54 freshmen, 44 continuing members and eight committees signed up to compete.

Last year’s winner, Louisiana Rep. John Fleming, also made it into the Elite! Eight. The competition is not cumulative, so Fleming will hav! e to kee p earning points in order to hold onto bragging rights this year.

Fleming's head-to-head competition this week is the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Besides the freshmen, his competition in the Elite Eight includes the Small Business Committee and Rep. Buck McKeon (Calif.).

Fleming seems to embody the goal of the competition, however, which is friendly rivalry ultimately encouraging collaboration. Fleming recently tweeted a plug for freshman Rep. Jim Renacci (Ohio), who is still competing for third place in the elimination round:

#FF @RepJimRenacci: Please help me get to 1,000+ followers and stay in the #GOPNew Media Challenge! #GOPNMC