Online presence is more important than ever to get an organization’s message out to the public and other interested parties. The United States armed forces are no different in getting its respective messages out to the public. These armed forces, also known as military branches, within the Department of Defense help defend the United States. Recently, the Department of Defense became unofficially known as the Department of War, but not formally approved by Congress. For the purposes of this report, we used Department of Defense. This document provides an assessment of each of the military branches’ online presence as of October 25, 2025.
Methodology
- Identified each of the armed forces’ website domain as part of online presence.
- Identified Instagram, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), and Linkedin as the major social platforms for determining each of the military branches’ online presence.
- Excluded TikTok from the assessment due to ongoing determination on its status in the United States and that its use is restricted among federal agencies.
- Based on the four social media platforms, obtained the number of followers for each of the armed forces.
- Summarize the results of the assessment.
Results
We identified six main military branches that are uniformed services within the Department of Defense.
| U.S. Air Force | U.S. Marines Corps |
| U.S. Army | U.S. Navy |
| U.S. Coast Guard | U.S. Space Force |
Website Domains
Each of the six military branches have its own official website for visitors to find more information.
| Military Branch | Branch Official Website |
| U.S. Air Force | https://www.af.mil |
| U.S. Army | https://www.army.mil |
| U.S. Coast Guard | https://www.uscg.mil |
| U.S. Marines Corps | https://www.marines.mil |
| U.S. Navy | https://www.navy.mil |
| U.S. Space Force | https://www.spaceforce.mil |
These websites include information such as 1) about us, 2) organizational information, 3) updates, 4) contact information, 5) events, and 6) media. These sites can provide visitors with more in-depth information about the respective military branches that serve the United States.
On Instagram, owned by Meta, each of the military branches have an account for visitors to obtain visual and audio posts. For each of the Instagram accounts, we determined the number of followers for each of the military branches. We ranked each of the military branches from largest to smallest number of Instagram followers.
| Military Branch | Instagram Followers | |
| U.S. Army | https://instagram.com/usarmy | 2,893,369 |
| U.S. Air Force | https://www.instagram.com/usairforce/ | 2,817,910 |
| U.S. Marines Corps | http://www.instagram.com/marines | 2,727,938 |
| U.S. Navy | https://www.instagram.com/usnavy | 2,459,626 |
| U.S. Coast Guard | https://www.instagram.com/uscg | 833,066 |
| U.S. Space Force | https://instagram.com/usspaceforce | 130,423 |
Army, Air Force, Marines, and Navy have more than 2 million followers, which is impressive given that have more than 1 million followers on social media platform is significant.
YouTube
On YouTube, owned by Google, each of the military branches have an account for visitors to obtain visual posts about the services. For each of the YouTube accounts, we determined the number of followers for each of the military branches. We ranked each of the military branches from largest to smallest number of YouTube followers.
| Military Branch | YouTube | YouTube Followers |
| U.S. Army | https://www.youtube.com/Usarmy | 2,100,000 |
| U.S. Marines Corps | http://www.youtube.com/Marines | 456,000 |
| U.S. Navy | https://www.youtube.com/usnavy | 357,000 |
| U.S. Air Force | https://www.youtube.com/user/AFBlueTube | 123,000 |
| U.S. Coast Guard | https://www.youtube.com/@U.S.CoastGuard | 74,800 |
| U.S. Space Force | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRPM0OCMJyE-XuOIfe9n0lA | 18,900 |
Army has more than 2 million YouTube followers. The Army’s following group is nearly double the combined number of followers of the other five military branches.
X formerly Twitter
On X, each of the military branches have an account for visitors to obtain visual posts about the services. For each of the X accounts, we determined the number of followers for each of the military branches. We ranked the military branches from largest to smallest number of X followers.
| Military Branch | X | X Followers |
| U.S. Army | https://twitter.com/USArmy | 2,142,079 |
| U.S. Navy | https://www.twitter.com/usnavy | 1,858,246 |
| U.S. Marines Corps | https://twitter.com/usmc | 1,752,231 |
| U.S. Air Force | https://www.twitter.com/Usairforce | 1,701,592 |
| U.S. Coast Guard | https://twitter.com/USCG | 690,949 |
| U.S. Space Force | https://www.x.com/USSpaceForce | 669,879 |
Similar to Instagram and YouTube, Army has more than 2 million X followers. Navy, Marines, and Air Force have more than 1 million X followers, respectively. As previously mentioned, having more than 1 million followers is considered significant content creators. However, the Coast Guard and Space Force have respectful follower numbers that exceed 500,000.
On Linkedin, owned by Microsoft, each of the military branches have an account for visitors to view posts related to each of the services. For each of the Linkedin accounts, we determined the number of followers for each of the military branches. We ranked each of the military branches from largest to smallest number of Linkedin followers.
| Military Branch | LinkedIn Followers | |
| U.S. Army | https://www.linkedin.com/company/us-army | 1,184,102 |
| U.S. Air Force | https://www.linkedin.com/company/united-states-air-force | 755,107 |
| U.S. Navy | https://www.linkedin.com/company/us-navy | 707,941 |
| U.S. Marines Corps | https://www.linkedin.com/company/marines | 252,791 |
| U.S. Space Force | https://www.linkedin.com/company/usspaceforce | 184,519 |
| U.S. Coast Guard | https://www.linkedin.com/company/uscoastguard | 124,538 |
Army is the only military branch to have followers exceeding 1 million. Air Force and Navy have a following that exceed 500,000. The remaining military branches have follower counts that exceed 100,000, but under 500,000.
Across the Four Social Media Platforms Reviewed
A combination of the military branches’ followers from each of the four social media platforms provided total numbers of followers.
| Military Branch | Total Followers |
| U.S. Army | 8,319,550 |
| U.S. Air Force | 5,397,609 |
| U.S. Navy | 5,382,813 |
| U.S. Marines Corps | 5,188,960 |
| U.S. Coast Guard | 1,723,353 |
| U.S. Space Force | 1,003,721 |
Army’s total online social media presence across the four platforms exceeded more than 8.3 million followers. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps have followers that exceed 5 million across its social media platforms. The Coast Guard and Space Force’s combined social media followers exceeded 1 million.
Takeaway
Social media is an important tool for organizations to use in communicating to interested parties. Based on our assessment, each of the six military branches have a strong presence online through Instagram, YouTube, X, and Linkedin. Many of these military branches have follower bases that exceed 1 million with the Army taking a strong lead across all four social media platforms received. Each of the mentioned platforms serve certain demographics that each of the military branches can tap into to meet its specific goals and objectives.
Also, you cannot forget that there is still a need for a website to allow visitors to gain more information about your organization. Having a strong website provides your organization with a repository of information that visitors can obtain for educational, business, recruiting, and other areas that prove opportunistic for all parties.
Overall, social media provides visitors with an appetizer of content about the military branches that lead them to your website for the main meal of deeper insight and understanding. Having these complementary online items can help organizations reach the public and provide potential partners with opportunities that benefits the overall goals and objectives.