In the past Washington, D.C.'s most recognizable traits have been Helen Thomas's scowl and unreliable mass transit. But a new survey released by Men's Health shows that in addition to those unique qualities, The District may soon have a new claim to fame... being America's most socially networked city.

The magazine's study shows that the swampy burg on the Potomac that serves as our Nation's Capital is the most socially connected town in the country, edging out Atlanta and Denver. The survey examined factors such as Facebook and Linkedin users per capita, overall Twitter usage (tallied by NetProspex), the web traffic to sites such as MySpace and Friendster (analyzed by Chitika), and finally the percentage of households that visit blogs and chatrooms according to SimplyMap.

So, what are the most shocking aspects of the study's findings? Some would say that a city like New York is merely the 53^rd most socially networked city in America. Others may claim it is the finding that there are actually people out there who still have Friendster accounts and sign into chat rooms on a regular basis.

When looking at the factors that make Washington the nation's leader in social media savvy, it is important to take a few things into account. First is the obvious fact that Washington is a town where a premium is placed on communications and staying connected. Social media can help in everything from getting out the vote to promoting legislative agendas to engaging the sort of extracurricular activity that got Eliot Spitzer a .... talkshow. With a vast majority of politicians and federal offices having an official Facebook page and/or Twitter feed, this cannot be underestimated.

The second factor may not be as readily apparent, but seems to only be logical. Washington has long been a city of transplants, people in their early to mid-twenties flocking from all corners of the nation to pursue a career in government. A 22-year-old recent college graduate just getting into town to start that coveted $25,000 a year staff assistant gig has only ever known a world where internet access and social media (from the days of AIM all the way to Twitter) have been the norm. It is a natural reaction for that person to use social media as the tool to keep them connected to the friends and family they left behind before embarking on their government career.

The entire list of the best and worst cities for social media can be found here, but below are the top ten cities compiled by researcher Wenda Lau.

1 Washington, DC
2 Atlanta, GA
3 Denver, CO
4 Minneapolis, MN
5 Seattle, WA
6 San Francisco, CA
7 Orlando, FL
8 Austin, TX
9 Boston, MA
10 Salt Lake City, UT