The United States Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA, has opened its first official accounts on Twitter and Facebook, it announced on Friday.

The spy agency said it would help it to engage more directly with the public and make unclassified information on the agency "more accessible".

"We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet," the spy agency quipped in its first tweet.

Within five hours, it had already generated more then 200,000 followers.

The agency confirmed the news of its launch on the social networking sites in a press release on Friday.

"By expanding to these platforms, CIA will be able to more directly engage with the public and provide information on CIA's mission, history, and other developments," said CIA Director John Brennan.