@CIA, Go Home. You’re Drunk.
It’s been one month since the Central Intelligence Agency joined Twitter to much ado. Whoever has been running the account appears to have been on a monthlong bender, because on Monday, @CIA decided to answer some frequently asked questions. The results are silly. No, we don’t know your password, so we can’t send it to ...
It's been one month since the Central Intelligence Agency joined Twitter to much ado. Whoever has been running the account appears to have been on a monthlong bender, because on Monday, @CIA decided to answer some frequently asked questions. The results are silly.
It’s been one month since the Central Intelligence Agency joined Twitter to much ado. Whoever has been running the account appears to have been on a monthlong bender, because on Monday, @CIA decided to answer some frequently asked questions. The results are silly.
No, we don’t know your password, so we can’t send it to you. #sorrynotsorry #twitterversary
— CIA (@CIA) July 7, 2014
Sorry for not following you back @TheEllenShow. But if you visit us maybe we can take a selfie? #twitterversary
— CIA (@CIA) July 7, 2014
No, we don’t know where Tupac is. #twitterversary
— CIA (@CIA) July 7, 2014
The CIA’s reputation hasn’t been doing too well recently, and the move to join Twitter is in all likelihood an attempt to woo young Americans. For 20-somethings, the reputation of the agency — and the broader intelligence community — has been mostly shaped by the blown call on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and by Edward Snowden’s revelations of mass surveillance. The agency’s Twitter persona is trying really, really hard to speak to these Americans. But, like parents trying to sound cool enough to talk to their kids, the whole thing is a little awkward to watch.
Here, America’s spies try to get in on World Cup fever:
To today’s #USMNT last line of defense @TimHowardGK, good luck from the Nation’s first line of defense. #USAvBEL #IBelieve #1N1T
— CIA (@CIA) July 1, 2014
It would take 33,707,520 soccer balls to reach from DC to Rio #Brazil2014 #WorldCup #worldfactbook http://t.co/MOgGJgTuaI
— CIA (@CIA) June 17, 2014
Nothing says being hip to the concerns of young Americans like a #tbt photograph of George H.W. Bush during his days as CIA director:
Happy 90th to our former boss @GeorgeHWBush! #TBT Badge photo from his days as CIA Director http://t.co/zct0Bc2Khg pic.twitter.com/yML3JtzFzl
— CIA (@CIA) June 12, 2014
Hipsters love art, right? So of course the agency is alluding to its efforts to support modern art as a propaganda tool during the Cold War:
CIA #Museum Artifact of the Week: Black Rhythm by #GeneDavis http://t.co/Lwd2k21Uvo Art at CIA #WashingtonColorSchool pic.twitter.com/86dAX2laKc
— CIA (@CIA) June 26, 2014
Dipping their toes into the stream of irony with a reference to that time CIA planes were mistaken for UFOs:
Remember reports of unusual activity in the skies in the ’50s? That was us. #U2Week #UFODAY http://t.co/SOiapRR0MX pic.twitter.com/dOQjQ6ePxr
— CIA (@CIA) July 2, 2014
And then of course there was the agency’s first tweet, which really wasn’t funny:
We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet.
— CIA (@CIA) June 6, 2014
So is the agency’s campaign working? I don’t know, as I can’t seem to tell whether the Twitter users of the world are laughing with the agency or at it. I don’t think the CIA knows either.
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