Government’s move toward better utilization of the web in hopes of increasing citizen engagement isn’t exactly a new pursuit. It’s a rather old one in truth, however that doesn’t mean it’s going away anytime soon. Now more than ever government is looking for new ways to improve internet presence and open new channels of communication. Fueled by Obama’s Open Government and the increasing influence of social networking sites, government agencies will look toward 2013 with more enthusiasm than ever before.
For that reason I thought that it would be intriguing to discover which agencies are currently having the greatest success with social media. To learn who the leaders were I took a look at GovTwit’s Social Media Leaderboard, and viewed the top 5 agencies with the most Facebook “Likes” within the last 3 months. This gave me the opportunity to see how many people interact with an agency’s page on one of the most popular networking sites.
This is what I found:
1. U.S. Marine Corps (3,149,206 Likes)
2. U.S. Army (2,642,266 Likes)
3. U.S. Navy (1,702,954 Likes)
4. NASA (798,597 Likes)
5. U.S. Air Force (687,556 Likes)
What immediately stands out for me is the fact that 4 out of the top 5 agencies are branches of the Armed Forces. In addition, if you look even further down the list, even more military agencies are present. The results weren’t exactly eye-opening as the military typically advertises itself more than other government agencies, however it is interesting to see the affects that those campaigns on their social media pages. Obviously, the Armed Forces are doing something right. It will be intriguing to follow the military’s engagement on Facebook and other social media sites throughout 2013, and see if they can continue their success.
Why do you think they are currently doing so well? What practices can other agencies learn from them? What tips do you have for agencies looking to better utilize Social Media?
Check Out GovTwit’s Social Media Leaderboard
Lots of emotion / devotion coming from the folks who like these pages – mothers, fathers, wives, siblings, etc. who are supporting their loved ones who are away…and citizens who have a strong sense of patriotism.
NASA is the outlier among the Top 5, but it’s got a strong following as well among people who are fascinated by space…and that’s going to become increasingly true as more and more celestial activity happens to our planet.