While updating my Twitter account recently, I noticed that womenshealth.gov created their own Twitter account and added me to their network. Kudos to the government agencies who are jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon and getting their information out to the community!
That got me wondering what other government agencies have created Twitter accounts, so I did some hunting and found a previous FGI blog entry and an article from CNET News stating that NASA wants to tackle Web 2.0 initiatives in order to “save itself from turning into a dinosaur in the Internet age”. It took awhile, but I finally found the official NASA Twitter account, which I stumbled upon via the NASA Edge website and their Twitter page.
The U.S. Department of State created a dipnote Twitter account for alerting users to new posts on their DIPNOTE Blog.
Many non-profit organizations, such as the American Red Cross, created “tweet” alerts during the recent tornado outbreaks in the south.
The Sunlight Foundation is “tweeting” public laws as they are signed.
And of course, FGI is on Twitter as well!
Even Presidential candidates like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton update their Twitter accounts. I can’t find one for John McCain, but it looks like Mike Huckabee joined the Twitter bandwagon too.
If you find any other government agencies using Twitter, please post a comment to let everyone know.
[Editor’s note 6/5/09: I deleted the link to Ron Paul’s twitter account as it was not actually from Ron Paul. Thanks Erin for alerting us!]
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Newsroom/Press Releases: http://twitter.com/KYTC or @KYTC
Kentucky 511 Traffic & Travel Info: http://twitter.com/KYTC511 or @KYTC511
Thanks for spotting the fake Ron Paul! There are many fakes out there and sometimes it is hard to tell, esp. if you don’t read it closely!
http://www.twitter.com/govsites is a following directory of government Twitter accounts (any nation, any level).
http://www.diigo.com/profile/govsites – categorized and tagged Twitter accounts (social bookmarking like delicious but better); taken from accounts found at http://www.twitter.com/govsites
Both were started due to the poor results I had with Twitter’s “Find People” function, which only searches the “Name” and “Account Name” fields.
The official twitter feed produced by the Port Authority of NY & NJ for users of the PATH Rapid-Transit –> (@PATHPweets)
The link above that you have that goes to Ron Paul’s twitter, is not actually Ron Paul’s. Its just some guy.
Thanks Erin. I just deleted the link to the faux Ron Paul twitter account.
Wanted to let you know that the USG portal to help US companies export http://www.export.gov is now twittering. You can find us at twitter.com/exportgov.
Thanks for helping us get the word out!
Rand
Utah DOT (UDOT) and Salt Lake City and other government agencies are using Social Media, including many Utah Politicians.