Twitter Guide for Government: Profile Info

Download the PDF: Thou Shalt Tweet! 15 Commandments for Government Agencies on Twitter

2. THOU SHALT USE THY PROFILE INFO PROPERLY

Your profile should entice people to want to follow and engage with you. That means putting up a picture (a logo or other identifier) and filling in your profile information.

Your Picture: Your organization’s Twitter picture should be the senior representative doing the tweeting (an ambassador, for example) or your agency logo. This should be up on the first day and changed when it is appropriate.

Your Profile: Your profile is where you tell people who you are and what you will be tweeting about. You are limited to 160 characters, so make every character count.

You should include:

A link back to your agency website
A description of the account’s “raison d’etre:” This is the official feed of the department of …

You could also include things like:

What you intend to tweet about (We tweet about international trade, travel alerts, etc)
Something personal, if appropriate (John Dough, senior trade officer, tweeting for the Department of Commerce)

Your User Name: Usernames must be no more than 15 characters in length so take this into consideration when choosing your name. You may have to use an acronym. If you can, try using something that is universal instead of terms generally only used in your organization. For example, use industry terms, or international ISO country codes. Also, avoid selecting a username that is specific to the senior executive running the agency, as we know these people change often.

GovLoop Tip: Who’s in your network already?
Take a look at other agencies and departments, maybe someone has already set up an account. Get in touch with these people, sit down with them and talk through the challenges you’re having and see where you can collaborate.

Complete Listing of All 15 Twitter Commandments

This guide evolved from a post by Alain Lemay on GovLoop titled “Who Not to Follow On Twitter: A Guide for Public Sector Employees.” Alain is a Senior Web Communications Analyst for the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Agency in Canada. He graciously donated his time to assist in producing the 15 Commandments for Government Agencies on Twitter Guide in tandem with the GovLoop team.