The Federal Government on Tumblr
Increasingly, Federal agencies (like us here at the Bureau of Land Management) are using Tumblr to share photos, science, events, initiatives, and other great content with the Tumblr community. Here’s a list of some awesome Federal government blogs you should be following on Tumblr. It’s probably not exhaustive, but these are the ones we know about that post more than occasionally.
Reblog and help share the word:
America’s Great Outdoors: The Department of the Interior (our parent agency) shares an amazing photo a day of your public lands.
Archivist of the United States: The Tumblr of our “collector in chief” at the National Archives, David S Ferriero.
Bureau of Reclamation: Reclamation, and Interior Dept agency, is the largest wholesale water supplier and the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the United States, with operations and facilities in the 17 Western States.
Congress in the Archives: Since the First Congress in 1789, the records of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have documented the history of the legislative branch. The National Archives helps you explore this history.
Conservation at Work: The Natural Resources Conservation Service, part of the Department of Agriculture, posts photos of conservation on farms and other private lands across the nation.
Fish and Wildlife Service: The Pacific Region of the FWS encompasses extraordinary ecological diversity. Photos, science, and more.
Internal Revenue Service: Because who doesn’t want tax information on Tumblr? Useful tips, videos, etc., straight from the IRS.
My Public Lands: The awesomeness of the Bureau of Land Management, which manages more than 245 million acres of amazing lands, as told by students, interns, and newer employees.
Our Presidents: One space to bring the past 13 Presidents together. Discover behind-the-scenes history here. Managed by the National Archives.
National Archives: News and current events from the United States National Archives and Records Administration whose holdings include the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, military records, Presidential records, and millions of other documents related to the Federal Government.
Peace Corps: Life is calling. How far will you go? Get up close with the amazing work done by peace corps volunteers.
U.S. Department of State: Videos, photos, testimony, and updates from the State Department. Foreign policy updates on Tumblr—how cool is that?
Today’s Document: Highlighting interesting documents the National Archives’ holdings—both the well-known and the obscure—to observe historical events (usually the significant events but sometimes just the curious ones).
USA.gov: Government made easy. On Tumblr. Enough said.
US National Archives Exhibits: Images and stories from the National Archives related to “Searching for the Seventies: the DOCUMERICA Photography Project,” the newest exhibition on display at the Archives’ facility in Washington, DC.
But wait, there’s more!
Preservation at the National Archives: All things preservation at the National Archives and Records Administration. Posts to this site come from all of the Preservation Programs departments, including: Conservation, St. Louis Preservation, and National Preservation Programs.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library: Dedicated to the memory of our nation’s 35th president and to all those who through the art of politics seek a new and better world.
LBJ Time Machine: Taking a trip through time, from the birth of Lyndon Johnson in 1908 through 2013 at the LBJ Library and Museum.
FDR Library: Follow the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum as we count down to the rededication of the Roosevelt Library and the opening of the new permanent museum exhibits.
The Tumblrweed Times from the National Archives at Riverside, CA: We are the National Archives at Riverside—a unit of the U.S. National Archives. Our records document the Federal government in the western states of Arizona, southern California and Clark County, Nevada.
Measuring Success on Tumblr with Today’s Document:
Many of our followers requested more information on our recent presentation at DC’s Social Media Week, so, by popular demand, here are a few excerpts of our 5-minute* Lightning Talk for “Defining and Measuring Success on Social Media for Museums and Arts Organizations:”
Be sure to see the full Storify feed for a great recap of all the presentations from the #SmwMuseSocial panel. Thanks to all the panelists & attendees and everyone who helped to live-tweet the event!
(*undoubtedly we went well over the 5 minute limit but Dana Allen-Greil, our moderator-extraordinaire, was too polite call us on it.)
Tonight we’re at Social Studies: How Educators are using Social Media.
Are you a teacher? Do you use Today’s Document or other social media in the classroom?
*Update: Number of followers of Today’s Document on Tumblr: 34,862 36,233!
By The Numbers
This is a snapshot of a variety of data points we are tracking to measure how we are doing. I am especially interested in trends as we focus more and more on digital access. Is the investment paying off in terms of numbers of eyeballs on our content? What impact does online access have on onsite visits? Are our efforts around social media paying off? Are we finding the people where they are? And making it easy for them to discover our content? And what difference has having a Wikipedian-in-Residence had?! You be the judge.
Percentage of online users visiting archives.gov via mobile device in FY11: 4.6
Percentage of online users visiting archives.gov via mobile device in FY12: 10.2
Number of visits to all NARA facilities in FY11: 3,048,906
Number of visits to all NARA facilities so far in FY 12: 2,807,685
Number of visits Archives.gov in FY 11: 18,372,040 (so far in FY 12: 23,138,185)
Number of researcher visits to all NARA facilities in FY 11: 129,435
Number of written requests answered by all NARA offices in FY 11: 1,300,803
- Number of written requests (includes fax, letter, email) received by all NARA archival offices in FY 11: 207,281 (so far in FY 12: 114,538)
- Number of written requests received by the St. Louis Military Personnel Records Center in FY11: 1,093,522 (so far in FY 12: 889,283)
Number of visits to ARC/OPA in FY11: 830,288 (so far in FY 12: 1,453,516)
Number of visits 1940 Census received since April 2012: 5,126,627
Number of views of NARA social media sites in FY 11: 22,240,389 (so far in FY 12: 34,044,797)
Number of staff creating content on NARA’s social media channels in FY09: 11
Number of staff creating content on NARA’s social media channels in FY11: 1300
Number of views of NARA’s 13 external blogs in FY11: 600,000 (so far in FY 12: 635,569)
*Number of followers of Today’s Document on Tumblr: 34,862
Number of downloads of Today’s Document mobile app (IOS and Droid): 60,000
Number of NARA digital copies on our Flickr account (June 2009 to date): 12,026
Number of user-contributed tags on our Flickr digital copies (June 2009 to date): 90,353
Estimated number of views of Wikipedia articles with NARA digital copies in FY12: 750,000,000
Until fairly recently, social media has been seen as experimental and outside the realm of the essential work of our agency. Today that is simply no longer the case. Smart use of social media is now mission-critical to our agency.
Today, it is no longer about a single voice disseminating information from the Archives. Our customers want deeper access to our staff and to hear the entire chorus of our voices. Our citizen archivists and engaged customers eagerly await more ways to participate and add their voices to the chorus. Together we can provide greater access to the records, and a deeper understanding of those records. Together we’ll amplify each other’s messages.
Let’s do it!
Read the full post on the AOTUS blog.
