Government Twitter is a Thing Now
States, cities, and small government organizations are using the platform in a new way.
Earlier this year, the @NJGov Twitter account started getting a lot of attention online. Why? Well, because this was the official Twitter account of the oft-mocked state of New Jersey, putting out things like this:
New Jersey had become internet-savvy, typing in the casual, quick-witted, all-lowercase style custom to young influencers and teenagers. While state Twitter accounts are not exactly new, them tweeting like this definitely is.
It is this relatable, casual style of communication that has been used by “brand Twitter”— for example, by corporations such as Wendy’s and Chipotle, to increase their internet presences and appeal to younger customers.
But it certainly isn’t how the Founding Fathers imagined government-citizen communication to go, with New Jersey regularly tweeting things like “hi haters” and the following:
Although the state of New Jersey is the most notable example of “government twitter,” others have popped up as well. In January, the City of Chicago’s official Twitter account @chicago was created. It now has almost forty thousand followers and a pinned tweet that just says “Ope” (a common Midwestern saying). The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District also has a cool, quirky Twitter account:
So does the New York Conflicts of Interest Board.
As well as the Mercer County Park Comission. And even the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Ultimately, it makes sense why various governments and related organizations would want to be “cool” on Twitter. This could get people to engage with their local governments and pay attention to community issues that they probably wouldn’t otherwise care about.
Government Twitter accounts have also created a space for themselves. They now communicate with each other, much in the same way that brand accounts have started to do. New Jersey and the City of Chicago often talk to each other over Twitter, for example. Maybe in the future, town halls and Congressional meetings will be conducted online.
However, governments aiming to connect to their people through social media is admittedly a difficult task. Brands have gotten into trouble before for “trying too hard” or even being insensitive or pandering in their attempts to relate to their consumers. Government accounts also have to strike the right balance between being informative and being funny. New Jersey seems to be doing this well, especially during the current pandemic, with tweets like this:
Government Twitter is surely something to keep an eye on. I wonder what’s next… government TikTok?!
