It probably seemed natural for Marion Barry to take to Twitter when he wanted to vent about the Redskins during the Super Bowl. Or for Mayor Vince Gray to take on critics of the city’s decision to mobilize salt trucks for a snowstorm that never came. That’s because the micro-blogging service has become one of District politicians' favored means of communication. To area legislators outside the Beltway, though, Twitter may as well not exist.

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Granted, you won’t find many elected leaders tweeting in the unvarnished manner of Barry, whose “DAN SNYDER SUCKS” tweet generated several days of comment. But an analysis of the local Twitterverse makes clear there’s a big divide between the city and the surrounding 'burbs.

In the District, politicians, journalists and residents engage in a rolling, candid and sometimes unruly conversation from daybreak until bedtime. “Everyone’s on it,” says Susie Cambria, a budget analyst and D.C. politics follower who lives in Hyattsville. And indeed, they are. Gray, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and the entire D.C. Council — with the exception of Phil Mendelson, whose staff has begged him to sign up — all tweet regularly and sometimes respond directly to residents and journalists (Jim Graham protects his tweets, for some reason).

In Prince George’s, Montgomery and Fairfax counties, by contrast, local leaders steer clear. Few have Twitter accounts, and those who tweet do so with caution. Typical of the suburban crowd is Sharon Bulova, chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, whose last non-RT'd tweet reads, "It's great to see the active interest so many in Fairfax County take in being part of our legislative and budgeting pr…" Yes, that's how the tweet ends, cut off by a shortened URL. She hasn't tweeted once since that day: March 30, 2011.

Of course, there’s something to be said for dialogue that uplifts or informs, even if it’s not exactly heart-stopping. “We don’t get into a back-and-forth” online, says Patrick Lacefield, spokesman for Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett (0 tweets, if indeed this is his account). “In terms of [having] a free-for-all, we don’t do that.” D.C. councilman Vincent Orange, a fixture in the city’s more vibrant political culture, recently took to Twitter to comment on a citizen-led effort to ban corporate campaign donations: "B. Weaver's initiative 2 ban corporate contributions would be powerful if it also included banning outside employment by DC Councilmembers!" he tweeted.

The local king of Twitter is councilman Tommy Wells. His number of followers (4,213, at last count) rivals those of Gray (6,274) and Chairman Kwame Brown (4,435). More important, Wells’ tweets have the ring of authenticity. They're meaty, and they sound like him because it is him who's tweeting, rather than staffers. He does so with relative abandon, engaging in free-flowing conversations with reporters and residents, sometimes while the Council is in session, as in: “did Phil just say he ‘was reduced to take public transportation.’ the last time it snowed?”

Jack Evans also does his own tweeting. "It's definitely a way of keeping in touch with a lot of constituents," he says. "Not everyone. But a lot of people." Plus, there's the hip factor. "I'm 58 years old, okay? As a politician, you want to appear... with it. It shows I've kept up with the times."

Upper Marlboro is the ultimate Twitter dead zone. Only one member of the Prince George's Council — Mel Franklin — is on Twitter, and his communications are strictly meat and potatoes, like reminders about community meetings. County Executive Rushern Baker has a relatively strong following (1,388) but his tweets are written by staff and stick to the basics of municipal government.

Members of the Montgomery Council, with the exception of Phil Andrews, use Twitter, but their communications are strictly informational and sound like staff. The best of the bunch are Roger Berliner, Valerie Ervin and Nancy Navarro. Most Fairfax supervisors have yet to create accounts. (The region’s congressmen and senators, it should be noted, are all on Twitter.)

Cambria says she enjoys the chance to interact with local policy-makers. "For the most part we have a really good discussion, more transparent and engaging," she told me. "Because of the nature of Twitter, I can get responses from elected officials ... that I couldn't by email or phone." She said she once suggested, via Twitter, that Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's staff stream a conference online, and they did.

As for the authenticity question, Cambria says it's obvious. "When Vince Gray started tweeting you could tell it was Vince, but then it became clear it was staff," she said with a laugh.

After the jump: The tale of the (Twitter) tape.