All a-Twitter over Joe the plumber

Communicators on Twitter thought the real winner of Wednesday night’s presidential debate was Joe the plumber

Joe the plumber, Twitter loves you.

Mere moments after John McCain mentioned Joe Wurzelbacher, the Toledo, Ohio, plumber who objected to Barack Obama’s tax policies, communicators on Twitter launched a flurry of comments. And Joe’s 15 minutes of fame began.

“At least Joe the Plumber will always have job,” communications strategist Lori Laurent Smith said on Twitter during the debate. “Can’t say the same about the rest of us.”

During the final presidential debate, I dropped in on an evolving experiment of politics, social media and corporate communications. I watched dozens of professional communicators and social media strategists fire off Twitter messages, or tweets, as the candidates jousted.

Countless communicators swear by this method of viewing. “Nothing better than watching the debate and following the Twitter back channel,” said Mitch Joel, president of Twist Imagine. “There’s hope for humanity yet.”