There is a broad recognition that government information belongs to the people and technology is enabling a new wave of sharing.  Iceland is looking at social media as a method of “sustainable transparency&# through a constant flow of information. recent Pew Internet study showed the scope of citizen online activities: 48% of adult Internet users have looked for information about a public policy or issue. Know your market and customize your information for your audience. A Facebook site for US government agencies. Let’s see if you agree. Government. MORE >>

Your information is going to follow you around and be available to every person you date, every potential employer, every waiter at your favorite restaurant. There is an interesting, and perhaps alarming, trend brewing on the social media scene.  Take a look at a couple items in the news last week: The Palms Hotel in Las Vegas is providing perks to guests based on their Klout score (an assessment of social media influence)**. By the end of the year, Twitter said their new analytics will provide influence scores for every user. OK, first I need to get this out of my system. Participate. MORE >>

1) The amount of available information is accelerating. I recently saw an infographic reporting that all of the information created in the past two years equals the amount of recorded information for all of human history. The point is, we are in a permanent state of information overload and it’s going to get much, much worse. The physics of the human brain is woefully unprepared for this information onslaught. How do you fend for your piece of your customer’s mindshare in the face of this information tsunami? Now, don’t freak out. MORE >>

And the Internet was warring against Facebook again this week after new features were released that included a “Find Friends Nearby” option to find people around you, and a new requirement making Facebook email addresses a mandatory default setting, another in a long line of changes the company has made without informing users. I am amazed at how much Facebook can get away with. And yet, their self-inflicted problems and arrogance have not made a dent in their seemingly inexorbale march toward world social media dominance. Until now. young folks aged 13-24 owning a profile. MORE >>

Virtually the entire economic model of Facebook is based on a single tactic — collect as much personal information about you as possible as a way to sell highly-targeted ads. So for Facebook to succeed, it simply must collect increasing amounts of information about you. More information = more ad revenues. And, you can be assured that every new feature and innovation will be aimed at two things: 1) collect more information and 2) create “stickiness” so you spend more time on the site (to share information and view ads). You and me. MORE >>