Does Constituent Contact Matter?

One of the most fascinating aspects of professional blogging and social media use by academics is the incredible responsiveness of experts to random curious internet people. I asked a question about the effects of constituents contacting their elected officials on the premier political science blog, and was rewarded with two incredibly substantive posts on the topic here and here. It also sparked other knowledgeable people to contribute their information in the comments sections. In an age where many academic papers are consumed only among a small set of experts, blogging is an indispensable tool for digesting and popularizing all the good knowledge that's out there.