Tweeting democracy? Examining Twitter as an online public relations strategy for congressional campaigns’

• Political campaigns’ can use Twitter to build effective relationships with democratically engaged publics.
• Twitter use provides information to key stakeholder groups.
• Twitter offers political public relations practitioners an effective way to mobilize support for candidates and campaigns.
• Social media play an important role in achieving democratic aims.

Considering the integral relationship between public relations and democracy (Martinelli, 2011) coupled with the growing use of social media for democratic aims (Smith, 2011) the current study examines the effectiveness of Twitter as a public relations communications tool for congressional campaigns. Specifically, as a means of testing Twitter's effectiveness in informing and engaging voters, congressional candidate and political party Twitter use for all 435 U.S. House of Representatives races (N = 1284) are compared with 2010 election outcomes. Results indicate that candidates’ Twitter use significantly increased their odds of winning, controlling for incumbency and Party ID. Additionally, significant differences between incumbents’ and challengers’ Twitter use during the election cycle emerged, which has important implications for public relations practices aimed at achieving democratic outcomes.