July 2009

An Anderson Analytics study suggests that 1) Twitter has become more popular than LinkedIn, 2) more than half of the US consumers who use social networks belong to more than one, and 3) the people who belong to a social net are four times more vocal about products and services than people who don't belong. Twitter users are likely to be bloggers, too, and many trumpet social causes. The average user logs into their social network four times a day, five days a week, and spends about one hour per day on the network. Nearly 32% are business users, 26% fun seekers, 22% social media mavens, and 10% leisure followers.

The National Archives and Records Administration must provide more detailed information on its progress creating a system to store the federal government's electronic records, and develop a better contingency plan in case the system fails, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. Auditors found NARA's 2009 spending strategy did not specify the outcomes or capabilities the agency expected to achieve with funding for the Electronic Records Archive, which will house the federal government's massive volumes of electronic records independent of their original hardware or software. "Cost, schedule and performance data in the expenditure plan do not provide a clear picture of ERA system progress," the report stated. NARA also has made very little progress on adding records from the Bush administration into a piece of ERA called the Executive Office of the President system. Less than 3 percent of electronic records from the Bush presidency had been entered into the EOP system at the time of the review, and NARA officials did not expect the rest to be added until October.

The US newspaper industry is suffering through what could be its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Congress has begun debating whether the financial problems in the newspaper industry pose a public policy issue that warrants federal action. Whether a congressional response to the current turmoil is justified may depend on the current causes of the crisis. If the causes are related to significant technological shifts (the Internet, smart phones and electronic readers) or societal changes that are disruptive to established business models and means of news dissemination, the policy options may be quite limited, especially if new models of reporting (and, equally important, advertising) are beginning to emerge. Governmental policy actions to bolster existing businesses could stall or retard such a shift. In this case, policymakers might stand back and allow the market to realign news gathering and delivery, as it has many times in the past. If, on the other hand, the current crisis is related to the struggle of some major newspapers to survive the current recession, possible policy options to ensure the continuing availability of in-depth local and national news coverage by newspapers might include providing tax breaks, relaxing antitrust policy, tightening copyright law, providing general support for the practice of journalism by increasing funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) or similar public programs, or helping newspapers reorganize as nonprofit organizations.

A Q&A with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski. He says broadband is our generation's major infrastructure challenge -- it is to us what railroads and electricity and highways were to previous generations: connecting all Americans for commerce, a platform for commercial activity and for entrepreneurs to start and grow. It also is a platform to promote a whole series of public benefits that we have always regarded as important: connectivity for news and information, making sure that everyone has access to health care, education. He identifies government's two roles: universality -- making sure that everyone has access to high-speed broadband -- and openness. He also addresses indecency regulation.