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The folks over at Pollster.com report on a recent study by Edelman that shows some pretty interesting data on how legislative staffers (U.S. Congress, the UK Parliament, the EU Parliament, the French Assembly and the German Bundestag) use social media in their jobs.

Nearly every staffer (96%) uses online resources for public policy research, more than half (54%) reported learning of policy issues for the first time online and one in five (19%) actually changed policy positions based on information and opinions they found online.

The study also demonstrated the growing significance of digital tools in how these staffers communicate with constituents.

They noted websites have become ubiquitous in terms of their usage and effectiveness in reaching constituents (82% feel they are effective) while other outlets have also demonstrated their positive impact – online videos (52%), blogging (46%) and micro blogging such as Twitter (22%).

While there’ s nothing terribly surprising here, it’s still interesting to see it reduced to quantitative data.  You can find the full report here.

National Journal’s Under the Influence blog reports that according to a new study from the Congressional Management Foundation, constituents gave high ratings to online town hall meetings - Members like them, and best of all for Members of Congress, their constituents liked the Members better as a result.

After each town hall session, the foundation found that constituents had a more favorable opinion of their representative or senator and both the lawmaker and constituents had a better understanding of the subject areas discussed during the online discussion.

It’s hard to beat a deal like that.