Tweeting to the Target: Candidates’ Use of Strategic Messages and @Mentions on Twitter

This paper reports on a mixed-methods (i.e., content analysis, machine learning, and quantitative analysis) study of Twitter use among 74 U.S. gubernatorial candidates during the 2014 election. In extending the theory of controlled interactivity, this article focuses on politicians’ use of the @mention where we detail differing messaging strategies when candidates mention themselves versus their opponents, and between incumbents and challengers. Results suggest that candidates use the @mention feature as a subtle audience targeting mechanism. Our work also offers a methodological contribution by showing that machine-learning models perform better when context variables are included.