Tweet Blackout For Federal Agencies, Organizations As Government Shuts Down

Oct. 1, 2013 — -- The federal government is now partially shut down for the first time in almost 18 years. Many government employees are not working and in some cases entire offices are outright closed.

And now, so are their Twitter and social media accounts.

It might not be one of the consequences you would have thought of but as employees in those offices who maintain the Twitter and Facebook accounts are not working, the tweets and the updates will cease until the shutdown, well, also ceases.

Below are some of the agencies and organizations that have tweeted out plans to shut down their Twitter accounts, and thus stop providing updates.

NASA's AsteroidWatch

How will we know if an asteroid is headed for earth? NASA's @asteroidwatch won't be the place until the shutdown is over.

NASA's Voyager

The NASA Voyager account will also stop sending tweets, but that doesn't mean the Voyager is heading home. While 97 percent of NASA will be furloughed during a shutdown, the exception to the rule will be astronauts in space, who keep working, shutdown or no shutdown. Mission Control, which supports them, will also be working.

U.S. Capitol

Parts of the U.S. Capitol are closed, including the @uscapitol Twitter account.

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is one of the federal tourist attractions impacted by the shutdown and you can't visit the landmark through Twitter either.

National Zoo

The National Zoo, too. Not only will the account not be firing off photos of the cute animals but it has also pulled down its "panda cam" feed.

LBJ Library

The same goes for the LBJ Library's active Twitter and Tumblr accounts, which usually send out quotes from and photos of Lyndon B. Johnson.

FAA Safety Briefing

The account dedicated to updating followers about flying safety and news is no longer doing that.

The National Science Foundation

The NSF will reduce its workforce from roughly 2,000 to just 30 during the shutdown. Because of that reduced workforce no one will be updating the @NSF Twitter account.

Dept. of Agriculture
Nothing from the USDA either.

And some more...