The Central Intelligence Agency of the US, known as the CIA, has joined social networking sites Facebook and Twitter by launching its official accounts.
The agency confirmed that the purpose of its new web presence is to help it interact and engage with the public in a more direct way, with the aim of making unclassified data accessible. Both profiles have a tag-line that states:
“We are the Nation’s first line of defence. We accomplish what others cannot accomplish and go where others cannot go.”
Having secured the Twitter handle @CIA, its first official tweet from the social platform informed users that:
“We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet.”
Within a matter of hours had generated a follower base in excess of 200,000, with the tweet receiving hundreds of thousands of retweets and favourites. Many news suppliers were surprised by the nature of this tweet, and suggest that it reveals a good sense of humour.
In a press release, the director of the agency, John Brennan, has highlighted that those who opt to follow these accounts can expect to see images of selected artefacts from the CIA museum – which is closed to the public – appear on their news feeds. To complement this, the agency aims provide information about its history, mission and developments, and will include a ‘World Factbook’ which gives details about numerous world leaders and accompanying maps.
Not only does the CIA now have Facebook and Twitter profiles; the agency is also a member of other social platforms, including Flickr and video site YouTube.
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