8 accounts you should be following on Twitter – For public sector employees!

A little while back, I published a piece on GovLoop titled Who not to follow on Twitter! – A guide for public sector employees. It proved to be surprisingly popular. So I thought that since I told you who not to follow, the least I could do was propose a few accounts that might be worth following. The list below is not an exhaustive one and I invite anyone to add to it if you know of someone in government, or around it, that is worth following.

@Yourorganization, (if it is on Twitter. If not, Tsk! Tsk!)

AND, while you are at it, why not follow your senior officers, your colleagues, etc. Anyone from your organization that got bit by the twitter bug.

This should be obvious but it apparently requires mention. Not only will it allow you to retweet the occasional important tweet (think in times of crisis), it might get you noticed by the upper echelons. Just be sure you haven’t tweeted anything about Girls gone wild lately!

Alec Ross @AlecJRoss

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Senior Advisor for Innovation.Alec is the Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

As Secretary Clinton’s “tech guru,” Ross and his team try to blend technology with diplomacy – cutting edge stuff for government!

Rachel Sterne @rachelsterne

Chief Digital Officer for NYC. @ me with your ideas for tech and NYC government.Sheís young.

She is hip. And she was the CEO of a digital media consulting biz and a citizen journalism site. Now she handles NY city’s digital media communications. Sheís a good one to follow for a perspective of social media in government at the city level.

Jimmy Leach @JimmyTLeach

Head of Digital Engagement, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The tweets are all personal opinions, of course.

The UK government was amongst the first to recognize the potential of social media and to invest in it. It resulted in the Digital Diplomacy Communication Directorate witch is a good place to start if you are looking for best practices. Jimmy’s tweets through this account are his own but he is a good example of a Tweeting public sector employee.

Steve Ressler @govloop

Social Network Connecting Gov’t Community Passionate about public service innovation

I know what you are thinking but no, I didn’t get paid to include GovLoop in this list. Itís just a good account to follow if you want to keep up with whatís happening in government on the digital front.

(Pssst! Steve, Andrew, you guys did receive my email with the bank account number in the Caymans, right?)

Ashton Kutcher @aplusk

I make stuff, actually I make up stuff, stories mostly, collaborations of thoughts, dreams, and actions. Thats me.

I kid you not! Yes I know, he ís the guy from Dude, where’s my car and other such classics, but he also happens to be one of the most Twitter savvy celebrities out there.

Not only does he actually tweet (as opposed to a lot of celebrities who just have their ìassistantsî post stuff about them. He also happens to be a major angel investor in a lot of social media start-ups. In fact, if you watched the second episode of Two and a Half Men with Ashton, you might have noticed that in several scenes, he is at his laptop which is covered with logos of start-ups he has invested in. A good place to get a heads up on social media trends.

Steve Martin @SteveMartinToGo

I am Steve Martin, the actor, writer, comedian, and musician. You can find me here and at Stevemartin.com.

Because Government employees have a sense of humour too gosh darn-it! Don’t we?

Let me look up the policy on that…

Me! @Alain_Lemay69

Daydream believer, #Communications specialist, #socialmedia, #writing, #copywriting, #photography, #marketing, #travel, #wine, #GOC, #w2p. My feed, my voice.

You should be following me. Really! Really really! I’ll give you 2 good reasons:

1- I tweet a lot of great stuff! Varied subjects, from the curiously entertaining to the socially consciouous.
2- It is actually unlucky NOT to follow me on Twitter!

In fact, if you break this chain (by not following me), you will have 10 years of bad luck and have to work in a tiny cubicle with bad lighting and recycled air…. Oh wait! Sorry about that!