If organizations that used Facebook to disseminate their message were actual people, NASA would be the captain of the football team and the class president, the White House would be his cheerleader girlfriend and the the Department of Commerce would be the nerd they both pushed into a locker, according to a new study from George Washington University.
The study ranked 100 governmental, political and nonprofit organizations based on the effectiveness of their websites, their use of social networking platforms and their ability to utilize SEO and email lists. PETA, the U.S. Army, the two major political parties, AARP, the World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy and the State Department round out the top 10, with NASA and the White House coming in first and second respectively. The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, the Universal Postal Union, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the National Transportation Safety Board ranked as the worst.
Most surprisingly, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), an organization composed of people whose livelihood depends on using new media technology, ranked No. 70 on the list. Deemed "challenged" by the study, the NAB ranked lower than the National Restaurant Association, the Department of Labor and a whopping 60 spots below the National Association of Realtors.
But the blue ribbon goes to NASA, which the report says, "...is in its own stratosphere, experimenting with the latest technologies from geo-local to 3-D animation." NASA scored 184, 26 points higher than the second-place White House.
