The Government’s A-Twitter Take 2: It’s Official

For those that have been following the “Let Our Congress Tweet Campaign,” the news is in. Congress can now Tweet (as well as YouTube, Flickr and other 3rd-party sites) when communicating with constituents.

This campaign was the 1st official policy issue brought forth through Twitter. Individuals supporting the campaign were asked to tweet:

“Congress, change the rules. Talk to us on our social networks. http://letourcongresstweet.org/ Let Our Congress Tweet! #LOCT08.”

The campaign with links to media coverage can be found here. In response, the Sunlight Foundation has created @CAPITOLTWEETS has been created for those who want to receive tweets sent out by members of Congress. This allows interested individuals can get a @CAPITOLTWEETS widget to include on their blog or Web site if desired that updates every 10 minutes with tweets from Congress members.

The rulings official wording is and can be found on Speaker Pelosi’s blog:

In addition to their official (house.gov) Web site, a Member may maintain another Web site(s), channel(s) or otherwise post material on third-party Web sites. (more…)

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Related, in June, I compiled a list of ALL government Twitter accounts available. This post has been very popular, and many more have since been a) suggested and b) created. Thus, here is the update, beginning with none other than….Congress members who Twitter. Colleague @ariherzog also maintains the Government page on the Twitter fan wiki for future updates. Enjoy!

U.S. Senate

Votes from the Senate floor
@NRSC – National Republican Senatorial Committee

Joe Biden (D-Del.)
Sen. John McCain (R-Az.)
Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)
Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)
Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)
Barack Obama (D-Ill.)

U.S. House of Representatives

Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii)
Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.)
Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)
John Boehner (R-Ohio)
John Boozman (R-Ark.)
Michael Burgess (R-Texas)
Dan Burton (R-Ind.)
Eric Cantor (R-Va.)
John Culberson (R-Texas)
Keith Ellison (D-Minn.)
Randy Forbes (R-Va.)
Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.)
Randy Kuhl (R-N.Y.)
Tom Latham (R-Iowa)
Bob Latta (R-Ohio)
Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.)
Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.)
Candice Miller (R-Mich.)
George Miller (D-Calif.)
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
Tom Price (R-Ga.)
Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (D-Fla.)
Tim Ryan (D-Ohio)
Christopher Shays (R-Conn.)
John Shimkus (R-Ill.)
Mark Udall (D-Colo.)
Tom Udall (D-N.M.)
Joe Wilson (R-S.C.)
Rob Wittman (R-Va.)
John Yarmuth (D-Ky.)
Ron Paul (R-Texas) (FAKE PROFILE)

Executive Branch (including Cabinet, departments, and agencies)

The White House: Communications Office
The White House: Office of National Drug Control Policy
Department of Agriculture: Food Safety Information Center
Department of Commerce: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: National Marine Sanctuary
Department of Defense: DipNote Blog, @dipnote
Department of Defense: Maxine Teller, Public Affairs
Department of Defense: Mark Drapeau, Research Fellow, National Defense University
Department of Defense: US Joint Forces Command
Department of Defense: Department of Army: US Army
Department of Defense: Department of Navy: Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division: HJ Armstrong, public affairs
Department of Energy: Argonne National Laboratory
Department of Health & Human Services: AIDS.gov (AIDS Conference)
Department of Health & Human Services: AIDS.gov (Main)
Department of Health & Human Services: National Institutes of Health: NIH Communications Office
Department of Health & Human Services: National Institutes of Health: Jim Angus
Department of Health & Human Services: Office on Women’s Health
Department of Homeland Security: Emergency Preparedness
Department of Homeland Security: Leadership Journal
Department of Homeland Security: Transportation Security Administration blog team
Department of Homeland Security: US Citizenship and Immigration Services
Department of Interior: National Park Service: Brooks Camp at Katmai National Park
Department of Interior: National Park Service: National Center for Preservation Technology & Training
Department of State: Country-specific Information, travel department
Department of State: Dipnote, official blog feed
Department of State: US Embassy, London
Environmental Protection Agency: EPA
Environmental Protection Agency: EPA News Releases
Environmental Protection Agency: Greenversations blog
General Services Administration: Federal Citizen Information Center
GSA: Office of Citizen Services and Communications: GovGab
GSA: Office of Citizen Services and Communications: GobiernoUSA.gov
GSA: Office of Citizen Services and Communications: USA.gov
National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Astrobiology Institute
NASA: CoLab, advising and consulting on NASA collaboration
NASA: Desert RATS
NASA: Earth Observatory, echoed at Natural Hazard
NASA: GLAST
NASA: Hubble Space Telescope
NASA: Jason-1 project
NASA: Kepler
NASA: Lunar Atmosphere & Dust Environment Explorer
NASA: Lunar Crater Observation & Sensing Satellite
NASA: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
NASA: NanoSail-D mission, first solar sail created for nanosatellites
NASA: NASA EDGE
NASA: PharmaSat
NASA: PreSat
NASA: Public Affairs
NASA: Solar Dynamics Observatory
NASA: Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
NASA: Emma Antunes, web manager
NASA: Ames Research Center: Public Affairs Office
NASA: Ames Research Center: Kimberly Ennico, payload scientist
NASA: Goddard Space Flight Center: Linda Cureton, chief information officer
NASA: Goddard Space Flight Center: Ravi Sharma, engineer
NASA: Innovative Partnerships Program: Doug Comstock, director
NASA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Cassini, flying around Saturn
NASA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Earth Vital Signs
NASA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Mars Exploration Rover
NASA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory: News, unofficial feed, not endorsed by JPL
NASA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Phoenix Mars Lander
NASA: Langley Research Center: Bil Kleb, computational aerothermodynamist
NASA: Marshall Space Flight Center: Daniel Kanigan, public affairs
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency: Chris Rasmussen, social software knowledge manager/trainer
Office of Personnel Management: OPM
Securities and Exchange Commission: SEC Investor Education
Social Security Administration: Lee Alviar, public affairs specialist in Dallas
U.S. Geological Survey: USGS
U.S. Geological Survey: Earthquake & Tsunami Warning
U.S. Geological Survey: Dave Govoni, paleontologist
U.S. Intelligence Community: Andrea Baker
U.S. Intelligence Community: Heather Cox
U.S. Intelligence Community: John Hale
U.S. Peace Corps
U.S. Small Business Administration: Business.Gov

Additional

Bob Barr (L), former U.S. Representative from Georgia, presidential candidate in 2008
John Edwards (D), former U.S. Senator from North Carolina, presidential candidate in 2004 and 2008
@secgen – The U.N. Secretary General
@peacecorps – The Peace Corps
L.A. California Fire Department
Mike Huckabee – Former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate

U.S. State Government Leaders

@schwarzenegger – California Gov. Arnold Schwarsenegger
@GovernorGibbons – Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons (No longer actice and beware the fake account @FakeGibbons)
@govgranholm – Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm
@johncherry – Michigan Lieutenant Gov. John Cherry
@PeterKinder – Missouri Lieutenant Gov. Peter Kinder
Mark Boughton, Mayor of Danbury, Connecticut
R.T. Rybak, Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota

U.S. State Government

@coloradogov – Colorado Government
@kygov – Kentucky Government
@vermontgov – Vermont Government
@UtahGov – Utah Government
@SCGOV – South Carolina Government
@www_maine_gov – Maine Government
@rigov – Rhode Island Government
@wsdot – Washington State Department of Transportation
@NevDCNR – Nevada Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources

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10 thoughts on “The Government’s A-Twitter Take 2: It’s Official”

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Jeffrey Levy October 8, 2008 at 6:20 am

Hiya. Great list!

Just wanted to let you know EPA tweets news releases:
http://twitter.com/usepanews

Still working out how to advertise it, but figured I’d let you know. Whereas we’re not really doing much @usepagov

Pair O' Dimes October 8, 2008 at 12:50 pm

The Ron Paul twitter is bogus and the Jim Gibbons twitter doesn’t exist. Also, Sen. John McCain is on twitter @JohnMcCain, though I cannot confirm it’s the real McCain.

socialbutterfly4change October 8, 2008 at 2:30 pm

@Jeffrey Thanks. I thought I’d clean up the old list, and I added a bunch as well from my list, the Twitter wiki and others I found while looking around. I went ahead and added the one you just listed.

@Pair O’Dimes Thank you for the tips. I went ahead and updated the list. At one point, Gibbons’ profile was active. However, now the page doesn’t exist. Be wary that there is also a @FakeGibbons account. As we are finding, this is always an issue that fake accounts are created as impostures, a practive known as Twitter-jacking. Some victims to this have been Exxon Mobile, Borat, Stephen Colbert and a handful of others.

Jeffrey Levy, EPA October 8, 2008 at 2:44 pm

Thanks for editing. I always forget about the gov’t Twitter wiki – I just sent Ari a note.

As for twitterjacking, that’s precisely why we grabbed @usepagov. @epa was already taken, not maliciously, by someone who does seem to post occasionally. In fact, I’ve found that “epa” is taken in a lot of places, so we’re taking “usepagov” as a general rule.

Ari Herzog October 8, 2008 at 6:10 pm

Thanks for crediting me and others, though I’m curious why you don’t point your readers to lists that already exist rather than creating another list.

Chris Parente October 8, 2008 at 9:02 pm

Thanks for the list. And I love your WP theme!

Nedra October 10, 2008 at 5:39 pm

That’s a great list! Kudos to @ariherzog and you for putting it together. There are also some CDC-based twitterers as well (at least that I know about):
@CDC_eHealth
@eedgerton
@hseitz

SocialButterfly October 10, 2008 at 8:28 pm

@Nedra @Chris Thank you, and I’m glad this list was helpful to you.

@Ari I created the original list, I think, before the Twitter Government page was yet created. Due to the high traffic for that post and the traction it received, and people informing me of more government Twitter accounts, I wanted to offer a cleaner list here, which was excellent timing with the announcement that Congress can now utilize 3rd Party Web sites. Being able to visually show the robust number of government acounts, I think further establishes why this ruling is beneficial and helpful. Plus, I found a few new ones that were not yet added to the Government Twitter fan wiki list. And, even still, there are always more being created. I do encourage people to continue using the Government Twitter list. To ensure, that I now have a clean and updated list on SocialButterfly, I will also continue to update my list as much as I can.

Thank you for all your work, as Government 2.0, I know, can be an uphill battle. =)

Andrea R. Baker October 14, 2008 at 9:07 pm

I thank Ari and Alexandria for compiling the continuously growing list of the US Gov on twitter.

And for a shameless plug, I also maintain @thebeltway in which you can submit traffic incidents and events to be disseminated to beyond your follow list.

— @immunity

"Facility Decommissioning" Training Course, Argonne National Laboratory December 4, 2008 at 10:04 am

Could you please also add the “Facility Decommissioning” training course by Argonne National Laboratory to your list as:

Department of Energy: “Facility Decommissioning” Training Course – Argonne National Laboratory

Could you please list us under the Argonne National Laboratory entry?

Great list, keep up the good work!

Comments are closed.