Robert Gibbs, the White House?s press secretary and his deputy, Bill Burton, have both signed up for separate Twitter accounts and together they aim to use the world?s first micro-blogging site as a way to give President Barack Obama?s policies and message a more informal feel, as well as offer a glimpse into life inside the Oval Office. But Gibbs admitted that the learning curve has been steep, since writing 140 character tweets in a compelling manner can be a challenge for someone schooled in the art of formal press releases and lengthy journalistic analysis. Gibbs admitted that at first the ?whole language of numbers and symbols? evaded him, and he added that he might be well advised to turn to his son, in order to get a better grasp of this increasingly powerful form of communication.<br /> But the initial difficulties aside, Gibbs and Burton have already developed a very effective modus operandi when using Twitter to spread Obama?s policies to the most technologically savvy generations. For example, Burton will regularly start tweeting while Gibbs is still hosting a press conference at the White House and is in the process of elaborating on Obama?s policies. Burton?s role is to offer extra nuggets of information that clarify some of Gibbs? points and potentially pre-empt questions that journalists might have.<br /> Macon Phillips, the White House director of social networking and new media, added that Twitter offers administration officials the opportunity to hear the questions of ?ordinary? citizens in raw form, rather than just the input of the politically savvy media elites of Washington, DC. Gibbs has managed to attract over 35,000 followers since his Twitter debut late last year.

When Facebook first launched its various game applications?such as the popular FarmVille?the assumption was that it would appeal mainly to men. The image of men enthusiastically playing video games in their home?s basement is one that is deeply ingrained in society. But somewhat unexpectedly, Facebook?s games appeal just as much to an unlikely crowd, namely women over 40 years of age. A major survey conducted by PopCap Games shows that middle-aged women are more likely to be playing Facebook games than men, or any other age cohort. In fact, 40-plus women even beat out teenagers when it came to the amount of time they spent on FarmVille.<br /> The survey?s data was collected in the United Kingdom and the United States and it found that a clear majority of social gamers (55%) are women. Even more curiously, the average age of these Facebook enthusiasts is 43. Not only are middle-aged women more likely to start playing games offered through the world?s largest social networking site, but they also tend to spend much more time logging on to this application then men. While 39% of women played this game more than once each day, only 29% of men admitted to sitting down in front of monitor on more than one occasion to try their luck on FarmVille.<br /> Facebook?s FarmVille now boasts 82 million players and 60% of these enthusiasts are actually women. Even Mafia Wars?another popular Facebook game?appears to be most popular among women. Perhaps what these surprising statistics show is that ever more gender stereotypes are being broken down in the world of social networking

The number of tweets posted on Twitter hit the 10 billion mark this week, highlighting the very rapid growth of the micro-blogging service which was launched less than four years ago. The only disappointment perhaps for Twitter enthusiasts is that the San Francisco-based company was not able to reveal precisely which of its users sent the 10 billionth tweet, due to privacy regulations and the fact that the tweet was posted on a so-called ?protected? profile. This simply means that the individual user?s tweets were only visible to a small handful of followers, rather than the broader public. The number of tweets generated is likely to increase even further with Gigatweet?a website dedicated to tracking Twitter-related statistics?estimating that the micro-blogging service may pass the 20 billion mark as early as July.<br /> If the number of headlines that news of the 10 billionth tweet generated serves as any indication?including in major publications like The Telegraph?this prediction might be accurate. But it need not serve as a surprise that major British papers are paying such close attention to Twitter?s fortunes, considering that London residents send more tweets than users in any other city in the world. Twitter use is also spreading among major companies. For example, a total of 57 FTSE 100 firms already use Twitter in order to stay in touch with their clients.<br /> According to Twitter?s own statistics, users now send nearly 50 million tweets each day, with an average of 600 posts per second worldwide. While all of this is encouraging news for Twitter, the micro-blogging site still has some work to do in order to overcome its two larger rivals, namely Facebook and YouTube.

A soldier caused havoc within the Israeli military earlier this week, when he decided to post classified army information to his Facebook profile on planned operations in a Palestinian settlement. Apparently not realizing the consequences of his actions, the solider in question posted a status update in which he mentioned that on Wednesday his unit would ?clean up? the town of Qatanah, before returning home on Thursday. The soldier?s Facebook friends quickly realized that this seemingly innocuous status update constituted a breach of confidentiality. Rather than adding a comment to his profile, or sending him a Facebook message, they reported him directly to the military.</p> <p>The unnamed soldier was almost immediately court marshalled and he will now have to spend the next 10 days in prison for having released classified military information on Facebook. The military also had no choice but to cancel the planned raid in Qatanah, after these plans had been published on the world?s most popular social networking site.</p> <p>Israel is now taking much more drastic steps to warn its soldiers about the dangers of posting confidential military information on Facebook. For example, posters have appeared at most Israeli military bases depicting mock Facebook profile pages for some of Israel?s most avowed enemies, including Iran?s President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and top Hezbollah leaders. At the bottom of the Facebook poster is a rhetorical question: ?You think that everyone is your friend??</p>

Major changes are coming to the way New York City officials treat traditional journalists and bloggers, and this move is certain to lend more credibility than ever before to the Blogosphere. Until now, only journalists working for accredited news organizations enjoyed most media privileges in New York, such as the right to cross police barriers when reporting on stories and being issued press passes. But starting later this year, New York officials will begin offering press passes to any journalist based exclusively on his/her personal achievements, rather than affiliations with major print, television or online news organizations. What this means in practice, is that bloggers will be eligible for press passes and will be permitted to cross police barriers after they have reported on at least six events sponsored by New York City and published these online or in print.</p> <p>Bloggers who attend the city?s press conferences, local parades or who report on emergencies that do not require the crossing of police lines will be eligible to apply for a two-year press pass. Additionally, bloggers and journalists with less experience reporting on events may be eligible for special, single-use press passes.</p> <p>New York?s change of heart concerning bloggers has a lot do with the work of civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel. The prominent attorney led a lawsuit against NYC for not determining whether a journalist deserved a press pass based on his/her accomplishments, but rather on the company that he/she works for. Siegel argued that it was now high time for bloggers to receive the same treatment that newspaper or television journalists have long enjoyed.

As a sign of the dramatically changing times, more people are now turning directly to the internet for news, rather than to printed newspapers or magazines, and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are playing</p>

American soldiers are now able to literally tweet messages to loved ones and supporters from the battlefields, thanks to new rules introduced by the Pentagon. US officials have lifted a longstanding ban, which prohibited active soldiers from sending messages home about their life on the frontlines and opened the door for Web 2.0 technology to make its way into the world?s most dangerous war zones. The Pentagon had been very concerned up until now that allowing soldiers to use Twitter, Facebook or Youtube and to permit them to blog about their experiences in battle would result in dangerous leaks and may expose military secrets. There were also worries that thousands of soldiers using Web 2.0 technology on the military?s overseas computers would eat away at the army?s bandwidth. But after a seven-month long review of the Pentagon?s policy, soldiers will be able to share more personal information on their experiences in war zones than ever before, adding thousands of new voices to the world?s most popular social networking sites.</p> <p>But there will be limitations on access to social networking sites and other online content. For example, commanders will have the authority to temporarily block access to Web 2.0 technology, if they feel that this may use up too much bandwidth, or if military secrets may be at risk. Some of the biggest changes are likely to affect the Marines, where strict directives issued last August completely banned all access to Twitter. The Pentagon?s new directives, however, will require the Marines to dismantle these restrictions in short order.</p> <p>One of the most important reasons for allowing soldiers access to social networking sites such as Facebook, is the comfort this form of contact can give military families back home. Their loved ones will be able to show that they are doing well?even in the most dangerous situations?by posting a simple status update, adding a photo or commenting on the profiles of friends and family members.

Major changes are coming to the way Facebook users find information about their favourite organizations, companies and celebrities on the world?s most popular social networking site. Google has decided to add status updates posted by millions of celebrities and organizations active on Facebook to its main search engine. While the updates posted by individual Facebook users will continue to remain private, Google has indicated that its crawlers would make all other material on the social networking site fully searchable. This means that companies that have developed Facebook profile pages will be even easier to locate and will gain much greater visibility, as any links, blogs, status updates or other information posted on these pages will appear in Google?s new real-time search feature.</p> <p>Now that statistics show Facebook to be the world?s second most popular website in terms of daily visits, a growing number of companies realize that one of the best ways to reach out to their clients and keep them informed of new products and services is by setting up a Facebook page and gathering ?fans.? The fact that Google will make all of these pages searchable through its main engine will likely serve as an incentive for even more small and medium-sized businesses to enter the world of Web 2.0 technology and joins industry giants.</p> <p>But Google is hardly the only search engine to realize the importance of working with social networking sites, in order to add relevant and updated content to search results. Yahoo, for example, signed a deal with Twitter and will begin crawling the nearly 600 tweets that are posted each second by the micro-blogging site?s users.

The proportion of congressional politicians who have signed up for Twitter accounts and keep in touch with their supporters through tweets now stands at one third of all representatives in Congress. Some of the most enthusiastic micro-bloggers are also the most unlikely candidates to take such an interest in a Web 2.0 tool often associated with the most technology-savvy young generation. Former Republican presidential candidate and Arizona?s senior senator, John McCain turns 74 years old this year, but he has more followers than any other congressional politician on Twitter. This is an especially odd turn of events, considering the fact that McCain rather proudly indicated during the 2008 presidential campaign that he never used computers before. Either the prominent Republican senator has had a dramatic change of heart, or he has some very resourceful social networking assistance, considering that he has managed to amass 1.7 million followers.</p> <p>But McCain is hardly the only politician well into his golden years who has decided to try his luck with Twitter. Senator Charles E Grassley happens to be 76 and he is just as active in the world of micro-blogging and has managed to make it onto the top five list of </p>

China?s technocratic and colourless communist president Hu Jintao has apparently taken a page from western politicians and celebrities by entering the world of micro-blogging. While Twitter is still banned in China, the country?s main communist newspaper, The People?s Daily, runs a social networking service that many have dubbed the ?Chinese Twitter,? since it is based on the same premise of tweets, followers and the ability to comment on posts. Hu Jintao has registered his very own account and more than 600 people decided to sign up to his thread each hour since he opened his profile yesterday. While Hu is clearly popular among China?s micro-bloggers?or at the very least has sparked their curiosity?the only problem is that the Chinese president has yet to utter a single tweet since joining more than 24 hours ago.</p> <p>China?s strangely silent president is already frustrating his more than 16,680 followers, who are keen to hear what this populous country?s leader has to say to the Blogosphere.</p>