diff --git a/screenless/bureau/publicrelations/publicrelations.py b/screenless/bureau/publicrelations/publicrelations.py
index 5263808..47eb5d2 100644
--- a/screenless/bureau/publicrelations/publicrelations.py
+++ b/screenless/bureau/publicrelations/publicrelations.py
@@ -64,9 +64,10 @@ class PublicRelations(Bureau):
         take a tweet id and return a short alphanumeric code
         """
         shortcode = ''.join(random.choice(string.ascii_letters + string.digits)
-                            for _ in range(5)).encode()
+                            for _ in range(5))
         with self.dbenv.begin(db=self.tweetdb, write=True) as txn:
-            txn.put(shortcode, tweet_id.encode())
+            txn.put(shortcode.encode(), tweet_id.encode())
+        return shortcode
 
     @add_command("tweetpic", "Post a Document Camera Image to Twitter")
     def tweet_pic(self):