The public-relations firm Edelman recently released its analysis of congressional tweeters, and Utah’s own Rep. Jason Chaffetz landed in their top 10 rankings out of 456 congressional Twitter handles the company looked at in 2011.---

The company’s data set employed study measurements that track the effectiveness of members of Congress who use Twitter based on mentions, replies, the volume of retweets, follower growth, as well as a proprietary measure the company touts as being a litmus test for the “influence” of a Twitter handle.

Based on a dataset that included 194 Democrats, two Independents and 260 Republicans in the House and Senate between September and December 2011, the company’s overall analysis finds Republicans are ahead of the game when it comes to using Twitter to get their message out. Republicans, it turned out, -- especially in the United States Senate -- used Twitter the most effectively. Twitter handles also seemed to suggest that there was more follower growth in representatives in the Western region, which seems to sync up with the high rankings of Utah’s Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz.

Out of the study’s four Top 10 rankings, Chaffetz ranked 10th for “Influence” and 5th for “Trust.” He was the only Utah delegate to make the list -- a handy win for Chaffetz, who regularly tweets about everything from House votes to pictures of Philly cheesesteak sandwiches he eats while visiting the District. 

For the full-study breakdown, see below. Capitol Tweets: New Edelman Study Looks at U.S. Congressional Performance on Twitter