6 Most Unusual Social Media Accounts
It’s all but a given that businesses, celebrities, politicians, institutions, and agencies now have social networking accounts. We’ve heard so often about how imperative it is to “get social” and “connect with your audience” that eyebrows are raised when someone or something doesn’t at least have a Facebook page.
Still, there are some instances where a given entity is so timeless, so staid, so orthodox, or so lacking in opposable thumbs that the fact that it has an online presence at all comes as a complete shock and surprise.
To that end, here are 6 of the weirdest, coolest, and most utterly unexpected social media accounts currently in active existence:
The Pope on Twitter
Yep, that’s right. Just this past July, His Holiness Pope Francis began tweeting to a legion of plugged-in Catholic faithful. In addition to calls to prayer and service, the Pope occasionally tweets indulgences, or tasks which once completed can help believers reduce the time they might have to spend in purgatory after death. Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli cautioned, however, that salvation cannot be found through social media alone: “You can’t obtain indulgences like getting a coffee from a vending machine.” Still, you may want to follow just in case.
North Korea on YouTube
Okay, since when does one of the world’s most withdrawn, anti-Western governments use one of the most arguably Western communication mediums to connect with the world? Since 2010, apparently. Fittingly, they’ve used the last few years of their dedicated video channel membership (plus a related Twitter account) to broadcast propaganda against South Korea and the United States. These accounts were apparently opened in retaliation for South Korea’s anti-North broadcasts, which had been resumed after a 10-year silence when North Korea torpedoed one of its warships.
War certainly is serious, but this video’s liberal use of Donald Duck’s likeness isn’t:
The NRA Blog on Pinterest
I know what you’re thinking, because I’m thinking it too. What in the world does the National Rifle Association have to do with a social network that’s usually associated with recipes, design inspiration, and clothes? A lot, apparently. The NRA Blog presently has 15 boards that vary in topic from “Gun Porn” to “Duck Dynasty” to “Youth Wildlife Art Contest.” Get repinning, people.
NASA on Instagram
All right, all right, we all kind of saw this coming, especially after the Curiosity Rover got its own Twitter account. But NASA’s brand-new Instagram account remains a breath of fresh, science-y air in a medium otherwise overrun by heavily filtered shots of shoes and lattes — plus it’s just downright cool. The folks behind the profile say they’ll share photos about aeronautics, astrophysics, Earth science, spaceflight, and historical shots. And people are taking notice — only a few days after the account was launched, it already has over 100,000 followers. Nice work bringing space to the masses, NASA.
@hungry_birds on Twitter
You’ve likely heard of Angry Birds, the insanely popular video game where birds are launched out of slingshots to do battle against pigs. This, well… this isn’t anything like that. These tweets are composed by birds pecking a special keyboard carefully constructed out of lard. Will the world’s wonders never cease? The birds currently aren’t, ahem, tweeting, but I’m giving them a pass because the description promises a return to activity later this year.
Big Ben on Twitter
London’s famous clock tower finally has its own platform to spread its message to the world. Sure, that message seems to be somewhat, er, repetitive, but that doesn’t stop Ol’ Ben from having amassed nearly half a million loyal followers who apparently rely on Twitter to know what time it is. Even if there are no surprises — two bongs are always promptly followed by three, and so on — it’s a small comfort to know Ben’s bells are chiming even when you can’t quite hear them.
What unusual social networking accounts have you come across?
