Government agencies (local, state and national), public and private schools, colleges and universities, nonprofits, faith-based organizations … are jumping on the Twitter bandwagon. For example, last week, GovBenefits.gov announced by email that it now has a Twitter account.
Since I consult on Federal stimulus package grants, I followed them. On their Twitter profile page, I saw they were following 10 other Federal government agencies, including the Department of Education, HUD and DisabilityInfo.gov. So, I followed them, too.
What surprised me most was when I got a “direct message” from the Department of Energy:
Someone there had gone to my Twitter page and read “Hot Tub Affiliate” in my Twitter profile. Amazing! Way to go, Department of Energy!
Consider these “government” facts around Twitter and social meda:
- A big reason President Obama was elected was because he harnessed of the power of social media, like Facebook, YouTube and online fundraising.
- According to a recent study, 57% of the top 100 charities have public-facing blogs.
- The same study claims that 42% of the higher education sector has blogs.
- Federal department and agency leaders have unprecedented responsibility to instill “Transparency & Accountability” in all their actions, including allocation of $787 billion in Stimulus Package/Recovery funds.
- To date, President Obama has the most followers on Twitter and is the first person ever to surpass 1,000,000 followers.
- Last week, Earl E. Devaney, Chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, announced that Recovery.gov was hosting a nation-wide live discussion to get input on its new site. He used YouTube.
The increasing interest in Federal “Accountability & Transparency” along with gaining popularity of social media makes this the perfect time to follow Federal government agencies on Twitter! Check out this memo from President Obama from Recovery.gov:
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