Twitter Towns, USA

When we first decided to crown one town America's Most Socially Networked City, our money was on Palo Alto. As home to the headquarters of Facebook, Palo Alto might as well be called Zuckerburgh. But the title instead goes to Washington D.C., a city where staying connected can get out the vote, and virtual handshakes help shape our nation.

We started by calculating the number of Facebook and LinkedIn users per capita, followed by overall Twitter usage (NetProspex). Then we looked at traffic generated by the major social networks, including Myspace, Friendster, Reddit, and Digg (analyzed by ad network Chitika). Finally, after factoring in the percentage of households that check out chat rooms and blogs (SimplyMap), we tabluated the results. Click on for the 10 best and 10 worst cities for social networking.

Overall ranking: 1st = Most

Other statistics:
Twitter: 1st = Most
Facebook: 1st = Most
LinkedIn: 1st = Most
Blogs: 1st = Most
Chat Rooms: 1st = Most

El Paso, TX

The Worst
Overall Ranking: 100th

Twitter: 95th
Facebook: 88th
LinkedIn: 100th
Blogs: 82nd
Chat Rooms: 90th

Grade: F

Laredo, TX

Overall Ranking: 99th

Twitter: 99th
Facebook: 94th
LinkedIn: 100th
Blogs: 65th
Chat Rooms: 59th

Grade: F

Stockton, CA

Overall Ranking: 98th

Twitter: 84th
Facebook: 63rd
LinkedIn: 100th
Blogs: 87th
Chat Rooms: 86th

Grade: F

Lubbock, TX

Overall Ranking: 97th

Twitter: 96th
Facebook: 70th
LinkedIn: 89th
Blogs: 60th
Chat Rooms: 54th

Grade: F

Bakersfield, CA

Overall Ranking: 96th

Twitter: 93rd
Facebook: 80th
LinkedIn: 100th
Blogs: 62nd
Chat Rooms: 78th

Grade: F

Fresno, CA

Overall Ranking: 95th

Twitter: 85th
Facebook: 79th
LinkedIn: 100th
Blogs: 73rd
Chat Rooms: 66th

Grade: F

Detroit, MI

Overall Ranking: 94th

Twitter: 86th
Facebook: 91st
LinkedIn: 45th
Blogs: 99th
Chat Rooms: 25th

Grade: D-

Bridgeport, CT

Overall Ranking: 93rd

Twitter: 90th
Facebook: 98th
LinkedIn: 27th
Blogs: 85th
Chat Rooms: 52nd

Grade: D-

Fort Wayne, IN

Overall Ranking: 92nd

Twitter: 66th
Facebook: 93rd
LinkedIn: 61st
Blogs: 79th
Chat Rooms: 78th

Grade: D-

Billings, MT

Overall Ranking: 91st

Twitter: 100th
Facebook: 55th
LinkedIn: 70th
Blogs: 84th
Chat Rooms: 97th

Grade: D-

Washington, DC

The Best
Overall Ranking: 1st

Twitter: 3rd
Facebook: 12th
LinkedIn: 11th
Blogs: 25th
Chat Rooms: 11th

Grade: A+

Atlanta, GA

Overall Ranking: 2nd

Twitter: 25th
Facebook: 2nd
LinkedIn: 20th
Blogs: 26th
Chat Rooms: 3rd

Grade: A+

Denver, CO

Overall Ranking: 3rd

Twitter: 6th
Facebook: 27th
LinkedIn: 10th
Blogs: 20th
Chat Rooms: 25th

Grade: A+

Minneapolis, MN

Overall Ranking: 4th

Twitter: 32nd
Facebook: 18th
LinkedIn: 15th
Blogs: 9th
Chat Rooms: 1st

Grade: A+

Seattle, WA

Overall Ranking: 5th

Twitter: 23rd
Facebook: 20th
LinkedIn: 12th
Blogs: 17th
Chat Rooms: 30th

Grade: A+

San Francisco, CA

Overall Ranking: 6th

Twitter: 2nd
Facebook: 56th
LinkedIn: 3rd
Blogs: 11th
Chat Rooms: 54th

Grade: A

Orlando, FL

Overall Ranking: 7th

Twitter: 12th
Facebook: 11th
LinkedIn: 47th
Blogs: 41st
Chat Rooms: 17th

Grade: A

Austin, TX

Overall Ranking: 8th

Twitter: 14th
Facebook: 48th
LinkedIn: 13th
Blogs: 2nd
Chat Rooms: 2nd

Grade: A

Boston, MA

Overall Ranking: 9th

Twitter: 15th
Facebook: 29th
LinkedIn: 7th
Blogs: 14th
Chat Rooms: 5th

Grade: A

Salt Lake City, UT

Overall Ranking: 10th

Twitter: 52nd
Facebook: 3rd
LinkedIn: 19th
Blogs: 36th
Chat Rooms: 48th

Grade: A-

Thanks to Wanda Lau / Men's Health