Brief thread:

With @Twitter’s decision to label certain government accounts, I want to re-up my article on tweeting & deleting by U.S. federal agencies. Years ago, I began making my own database of the thousands of Twitter handles associated w/the U.S. administrative state. 1/ https://twitter.com/muira_mccammon/status/1285574667697299457

While at @HarvardLIL, I saw that tweets were disappearing from the Joint Task Force of Guantánamo’s Twitter feed (I wrote about this for @FutureTenseNow). I remember thinking what exactly is the U.S. govt trying to achieve on Twitter? Does it know? 2/ https://slate.com/technology/2018/04/why-did-the-joint-task-force-of-guantanamo-start-deleting-tweets.html

I began and continue to file public records requests, asking U.S. federal agencies for their internal emails & other communications that precede, follow, & justify the deletion of govt tweets.

Thanks to @KendraSerra & @cyberlawclinic law students for helping me w/this work! 3/

I'm now sitting on an archive of tweets deleted by the U.S. govt, which @Politwoops doesn't have.

A lot of govt tweeting & deleting happens quietly.

Entire accounts disappear overnight.

Few notice, in part because so much focus is *STILL* on @POTUS.

Exhibit A below.

4/

Part of my broader argument is that if Twitter disappeared from the web tomorrow, many U.S. federal agencies wouldn’t have much of a record of what they’ve been communicating with the public.

If this interests you, let's talk more about the Federal Records Act and its flaws. 5/

Thanks to @zittrain, @rebekahredux, & @BKCHarvard for letting me explore some of these ideas in 2015 w/ @thenetmonitor.

Later, at @HarvardILL, I asked:
(1) What do govt agencies delete?
(2) What does a tweet deleted by the US govt leave behind?

In my article, I consider: 6/

Others have written eloquently about:
(1) Twitter
(2) deletion
(3) Twitter archives
(4) the U.S. Federal Records Act

Special thanks to @michaelzimmer, @elisafondren, @L_Meeks, @Viktor_MS, and @documentnow. Your work inspires me.

And then there's the @librarycongress: 7/

A few words on method:

The U.S. government has struggled and I'd argue continues to struggle to keep track which of its own agencies have social media accounts.

I began creating a database of govt Twitter feeds years ago, but many have been deactivated. 8/

By asking fed govt agencies for deleted tweets and records related to them, I am uncovering how federal agencies negotiate a number of questions:

What is appropriate content for a govt agency to tweet out?

How do fed employees handle intra-agency disagreement over content? 9/

I FOIA each agency that has a Twitter feed but also continue to make high fidelity archives of govt-run Twitter feeds (thanks @webrecorder_io). Cool as @waybackmachine is, it isn’t enough, won’t preserve much of the content posted.

NB: The archives I make are incomplete. 10/

@POTUS is one of many govt social media users.

Other govt accounts at the local, state, & federal level need more scholarly & journalistic attention.

That's why I will be studying them until all govt agencies leave Twitter or until Twitter disappears from the Internet.

11/

When I started this work, I was focusing almost exclusively on Twitter, but it's worth noting that US govt agencies are trying out different third-party social media platforms.

LinkedIn. Flickr. Instagram. Facebook.

I've expanded my work to include these other platforms. 12/

I would be remiss to not give the @OfficeGovEthics (and @waltshaub) a shoutout here. (see below)

In a world, where countless U.S. fed agencies just don't want to *do the work,* you stood apart.

(Stay tuned for my paper on @OfficeGovEthics) 13/

Big thanks to @thekibosch, @theVerge, @bzelizer, @KendraSerra, & @anna_pericci, who have encouraged this type of inquiry over the years.

Thanks to @RadNetworks, the Andrea Mitchell Center, @HarvardLibrary, & @_commlawpolicy for helping me workshop some of my arguments. 14/

There’s a lot I can’t jam in this thread about other social media platforms & govt agencies outside the US experimenting w/Twitter.

Would love to connect with folks outside the US, who are studying govt social media.

If this interests you, let's talk. Stay safe everyone. 15/