5. New Jersey’s official Twitter account

Location: Somewhere in New Jersey

Website: https://twitter.com/NJGov/

While not a digital services agency, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s office gets a nod here for its plainspoken and impressively popular Twitter account, the operators of which — Pearl Gabel and Megan Coyne — have discovered that the kudos they earn from a tongue-in-cheek celebration of the state’s cultural mannerisms are worth the occasional confusion that arises when someone can’t figure out why an official government social media account is talking about our mothers. While it’s become standard practice for government agencies to maintain at least some degree of presence on major platforms like Twitter, the New Jersey account’s unapologetic tone and penchant for taunting neighboring states demonstrates it’s one of the few government offices that understands that to truly engage users online requires striking upon the proper mixture of authenticity and irreverence. That paves the way for legitimate, useful notices to reach a receptive audience.

hi haters

— New Jersey ❤️ (@NJGov) January 30, 2020