MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on Twitter and politics

— -- In less than two years as the host of MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, the former TV producer (The West Wing), pundit (Countdown) and political insider (aide to the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan) has risen to become one of the highest-rated personalities on the network. He is regularly just behind or tied with Rachel Maddow for top spot in the MSNBC ratings.

O'Donnell, who normally tapes his show in New York, met with USA TODAY during a recent week of shows in Los Angeles, where he owns a home, to discuss the role of technology in politics. He regularly invites viewers to tweet him on-air and says some of his favorites are from people who don't agree with him.

The impact of social media and politics

"What's affecting it now, more than anything else, is Twitter. There's something about the power of influential correspondents tweeting something that has become the fastest way to get a story moving. It will turn into something much faster and much bigger than it would have."

Reading nastytweets about himself

"I love some of the most hateful tweets. I think they're very funny. In the negative attacks on me, there are frequently some real displays of humor. I want to reply, but I won't, because there are all sorts of other people making serious points that I care about, and I don't want them to be discouraged. I don't want to ruin their Twitter experience."

Starting the day

"The first thing every morning is e-mail, and as equally as likely, a text. I tend not to look at Twitter in the morning; I try to force myself not to, for time management. I'll look at it on the way to work. I don't sample websites to the degree I used to, because of Twitter. …

"If a website has something I should know, somebody is spinning it around Twitter and I'll see it there." Before I would look at Huffington Post and Slate every day, now I follow them on Twitter."

Using social media to prep the TV show

"Many times on Twitter I've found things that weren't suggested by someone on our staff. I'll see it on the iPhone, e-mail the tweet to the staff and ask them to check it out. Every one of those that I've found has turned out to be true and something we've followed."