Tweeting, talking, or doing politics? Testing the influence of communication on democratic engagement

• Democratic societies benefit from engaged citizenry and online activity provide an alternative form of engagement. • Social media platforms such as Twitter (now known as X) are commonly used for democratic engagement, but it remains unknown whether this translates into offline action. • Social media is fit for political expression and interaction with both fellow constituents and political figures. • The actions of users indicates that those engaged online may not be engaged offline. • Traditionally engaged individuals tend to interact online but may supplement traditional forms of engagement for others. Being politically and civically engaged is known to benefit society. Using online forums, such as Twitter (the social media platform now known as X), for democratic engagement is now commonplace. However, research is inconclusive on whether offline and online activities similarly result in real-world engagement. Using secondary analysis of Pew data, both types of engagement are compared among Twitter users. Results show Twitter users engaged online, but not offline. However, those who posted about political/social issues democratically engaged both offline and online.