Only 35% of U.S. Public Sector Twitter Accounts Engage in Conversations

Digital think tank L2, together with researchers from George Washington University and NYU, has released its first annual Digital IQ Index for the Public Sector (PDF), measuring the effectiveness of Web sites, digital marketing, social media, and mobile platform support among 100 different public sector groups.  The report includes a ranking of these agencies based on their Digital IQ: 5% fall into the “Genius” category (NASA, The White House, PETA, U.S. Army and DNC),  20% are “Gifted,” but the largest percentage (29%) are still “Feeble,” with a Digital IQ of less than 70.

Social media makes up 20% of the score, and the report includes a number of findings about public sector use of social media tools:

  • 75% of public sector organizations link to social media from their web site.
  • 13% have incorporated a Facebook ‘Like’ button. Those that did have seen a 20% increase in site traffic.
  • 85% have a presence on Facebook, 87% on YouTube and 83% on Twitter.
  • On Twitter, 7 organizations have amassed more than 100,000 followers. The median audience is approximately 5,000, and only 35% engage in two-way communication.
  • The White House has the largest number of Twitter followers (1,886,592), followed by NASA (621,991) and the Department of Justice (348,594).
  • Only 28% of public sector organizations have developed a mobile site, smartphone app or iPad platform.