In Africa, very few government agencies have a social media presence. Many do though, and a great way to find social media accounts in under-represented African countries is to find a government presence on Facebook or Twitter and follow its connections.

A couple of months ago we noticed Mali’s official ICT Agency, Agence des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (AGETIC), on Twitter. The account has actually been around since 2012 but has been fairly quiet for the past two months. It comes as no surprise that the @agetic account doesn’t tweet much – few government accounts in smaller nations do – but the accounts it follows are a solid collection of influential online Malians.

ICT, a reality for Mali. {@agetic}

Notable Malian individuals and groups that @agetic follows include:

• Malian Presidency: @presidencemali
• President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita: @ibk_2013
• Mali’s National Assembly: @assembleemali
• African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence (SADI), a Malian political party created in 1996: @partisadi
• Malitel, telecommunications operator since 1989: @malitel_ml
• Malian blogger association: @assoblogmali
• United Nations Mission for Stabilization in Mali: @un_minusma

Also followed are a variety of former Malian presidential candidates, African heads of state, and a fair number of Ivorians. And lastly, @fasokan who continues to inspire hundreds of Malians that they can change the world with technology.

AGETIC was established in 2005 to undertake research, training, and promotion in the field of information technology and communication in the Republic of Mali.