The 50 most-followed agencies on Twitter

By FCW Staff

| September 24, 2012

Twitter has quickly evolved from social media novelty to critical communications channel. But which government organizations are developing the largest followings? Here is the list.

Social Media

Twitter has quickly evolved from social media novelty to critical communications channel. This list shows which federal agencies have built the biggest audiences, and where the growth has been fastest over the past year.

The data below was compiled by OhMyGov, a media and technology firm that specializes in providing advanced media intelligence for government agencies, congressional offices, lobbyists, and businesses working with government. Please note that for many agencies, follower totals for multiple Twitter accounts were combined to provide a better sense of total reach. All counts are as of Aug. 31, 2012.

(Also see: The most-mentioned agencies on Twitter.)

	Agency	# of Twitter followers	% Change over last year	Accounts
1	The White House	3,470,421	32%	@whitehouse, @jesseclee44, @lascasablanca, @macon44, @presssec, @WHLive
2	NASA	2,836,812	110%	@NASA
3	Centers for Disease Control and Prevention	2,015,693	18%	@CDCActEarly, @CDC_BioSense, @CDC_Cancer, @cdc_ehealth, @CDCEMERGENCY, @CDCflu, @CDCgov, @CDCGreenHealthy, @cdchep, @CDCMMWR, @CDCSTD, @CDCTobaccofree
4	Health and Human Services Department	1,465,949	59%	@healthcaregov, @phegov, @AIDSgov, @flugov, @foodsafetyesp, @foodsafetygov, @girlshealth, @healthfinder, @hhsgov, @ikngov, @ONC_HealthIT, @opa1, @womenshealth
5	Smithsonian Institution	732,838	48%	@smithsonian, @SmithsonianJobs
6	State Department	595,692	91%	@ConnectStateGov, @dipnote, @StateDept, @travelgov, @USEmbassyBern, @USEmbassyCyprus, @usembassy_nz, @vsfsAtState
7	Agriculture Department	847,574	633%	@MyPlate, @peoplesgarden, @RuralTour, @ScienceAtUSDA, @USDA, @USDAFoodSafe_es, @USDAFoodSafety, @USDAForeignAg, @usdafsa, @USDAnutrition, @biopreferred, @USDA_APHIS, @USDA_ERS, @usdagov, , @USDAFoodSafe_es, @USDAFoodSafet
8	Federal Communications Commission	500,873	15%	@FCC
9	Justice Department	489,779	19%	@TheJusticeDept
10	Peace Corps	477,685	19%	@PeaceCorps
11	Food and Drug Administration	464,488	71%	@FDAanimalhealth, @fdacber, @FDAcdrhIndustry, @FDADeviceInfo, @fda_drug_info, @FDAMedWatch, @FDArecalls, @FDATobacco, @FDAWomen, @US_FDA
12	FBI	412,842	82%	@FBIPressOffice, @NewYorkFBI
13	National Institutes of Health	384,107	68%	@NCIExhibits, @NIEHS, @NIHClinicalCntr, @NIHconsensus, @NIHforFunding, @NIHforHealth, @NIHforJobs, @nihlib, @NIH_LRP, @nih_nhlbi, @NIH_ODS, @NIHPtRecruit, @NIHSciEd, @NIHWALS, @ORDR, @WomensHealthNIH
14	Environmental Protection Agency	306,311	78%	@AIRNow, @energystarbldgs, @energystarhomes, @epaairmarkets, @EPAburnwise, @EPAcleanuptech, @epacolumbia, @epaespanol, @epagov, @EPAgreenbldg, @epaiaplus, @EPAjobs, @epalive, @epanewengland, @epanews, @eparesearch, @EPAsmartgrowth, @epawater, @EPAwatersen
15	Office of Science and Technology Policy	299,938	28%	@whitehouseostp
16	Geological Survey	297,602	69%	@nationalatlas, @USGS, @USGSAquaticLife, @usgs_click, @usgs_co, @USGSenergy, @USGS_Ethics, @USGS_Idaho, @usgs_kentucky, @usgs_lcat, @USGSLive, @USGSNeb, @usgsnhd, @_usgsnsmp, @USGS_OR, @USGSPodcasts, @USGS_SpecEider, @usgsstore, @USGSted, @USGSTNMRes
17	National Science Foundation	280,540	70%	@NSF
18	Education Department	266,811	110%	@arneduncan, @ED_Outreach, @edpartners, @EDPressSec, @FreeResources, @OfficeofEdTech, @teachgov, @usedgov
19	National Institute of Mental Health	249,845	100%	@NIMHgov
20	USA.gov	235,629	70%	@GobiernoUSA, @GoUSAgov, @USAgov
21	Federal Emergency Management Agency	221,545	78%	@craigatfema, @fema, @femaregion1, @femaregion10, @femaregion2, @femaregion3 @femaregion4, @femaregion5, @femaregion6, @femaregion7, @femaregion8 , @femaregion9, @usfire
22	Securities and Exchange Commission	212,103	5%	@sec_investor_ed, @SEC_Jobs, @SEC_News
23	U.S. Agency for International Development	195,357	65%	@usaid, @RajShah
24	U.S. Army	173,345	90%	@usarmy
25	Defense Department	218,066	81%	@DeptofDefense, @DoDSpokesman, @AFPW_Articles, @ArmedwScience, @DoDLiveMil, @thejointstaff
26	Homeland Security Department	151,948	n/a*	@dhsgov, @DHSJournal, @dhsscitech, @NTASAlerts, @ReadydotGov
27	U.S. Marine Corps	133,062	143%	@usmc
28	United States Holocaust Memorial Museum	124,178	101%	@holocaustmuseum
29	U.S. Navy	118,653	295%	@navynews, @usnavy
30	U.S. Air Force	116,324	101%	@afpaa, @airforcenews, @usafpressdesk, @usairforce
31	National Cancer Institute	97,479	100%	@ncibulletin, @NCIcaBIG, @NCICancerCtrl, @NCIExhibits, @NCIHINTS, @ncimcmedia, @ncimedia @nciprevention, @NCIsbir, @NCISymptomMgmt, @NCITechTransfer, @NCItrialsatNIH, @NCItsm3, @smokefreegov, @smokefreewomen, @thenci
32	National Weather Service	96,965	115%	@usnwsgov, @NHC_Atlantic
33	Office of the Vice President	82,700	148%	@VP
34	Energy Department	74,611	126%	@ENERGY, @solar_decathlon
35	National Library of Medicine	71,728	169%	@aidsinfo, @medlineplus4you, @ncbi, @ncbi_pubmed, @NLMGlobalHealth, @nlm_harrypotter @NLM_LHC, @nlm_newsroom, @NLM_SIS, @WomensHealthNIH
36	National Park Service	71,664	83%	@GoParks, @NatlParkService, @NPSVIPNetwork
37	Fish and Wildlife Service	65,746	109%	@USFWSPacSWest, @usfws_wsfr, @usfwshq, @usfwsinternatl, @usfwsmidwest, @usfwsmtnprairie, @usfwsnortheast, @usfwspacific, @usfwsrefuges, @usfwssoutheast
38	U.S. Coast Guard	59,271	66%	@Amver, @BoatingCampaign, @cgchealy, @cges, @Flotilla1105, @Flotilla4, @forcecompao, @GloucesterAUX64, @iCommandantUSCG, @uscgaux, @USCGAUXD8CR, @USCG_AWW, @uscoastguard
39	Voice of America	57,137	171%	@voa_news
40	National Ocean Service	51,180	69%	@usoceangov
41	Navy Seals	50,749	136%	@us_navyseals
42	Veterans Affairs Department	49,545	110%	@DeptVetAffairs
43	Labor Department	47,764	93%	@usdol
44	U.S. Embassy Bangkok	42,871	39%	@USEmbassyBKK
45	National Archives and Records Administration	41,679	143%	@archivesnews, @dferriero, @discovercivwar, @DocsTeach, @FedRegister, @NARA_RecMgmt, @TodaysDocument, @usnatarchives
46	Secret Service	40,930	45%	@SecretService
47	Transportation Department	38,063	66%	@RayLaHood
48	Federal Reserve Bank of New York	34,102	137%	@libertystecon, @NYFed_data, @NYFed_news
49	Interior Department	33,345	117%	@Interior, @usinteriorjobs
50	Small Business Administration	32,674	139%	@sbagov

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Digital Transformation

Twitter has quickly evolved from social media novelty to critical communications channel. But which government organizations are developing the largest followings? Here is the list.