NASA and the White House have topped the list of US public sector institutions in the usage of social media and the web, according to a study released by the George Washington University School of Business and digital think tank L2 on Tuesday.

The first annual Digital IQ Index for the Public Sector found that institutions in the public eye are taking advantage of digital technologies to spread their messages, but the majority are still holding on to traditional media strategies.

NASA's website attracts more than three million people each month, has 600,000 Twitter followers and 150,000 Facebook fans, according to L2.

The US space agency also uses 3-D visualisations, streaming video, and integration with location-based social network, the report added.

The White House stood second with a score of 158 with online contests, regular broadcasts of budget and presidential addresses on the video-sharing site YouTube, besides personal touches to online activity by the US President Barack Obama himself.

The L2 report branded about 51 per cent of the groups in the study as "challenged" or "feeble". The feeble list included The Department of Commerce, the National Organisation for Women, and the Anti-Defamation League.