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The Pentagon made an announcement that it is authorizing the use of Twitter, Facebook, and other sites classified as "Web 2.0" across the U.S. military, according to a report by Reuters. The article mentioned that the Pentagon said that "the benefits of social media outweighed security concerns."

"Of the 81 percent of states surveyed that use Twitter, 83 percent of them use it to relay traffic incidents, while 80 percent use it to relay road closings and 63 percent use it to communicate emergencies such as hurricanes and tornados. Other information released by state DOTs on Twitter include referrals to Tripcheck and new video updates, fires, accidents, construction projects and delays, press releases, state responses to the Recovery Act, air quality, transit information and 511 information. "

"Professors who wish to engage students during large lectures face an uphill battle. Not only is it a logistical impossibility for 200+ students to actively participate in a 90 minute lecture, but the downward sloping cone-shape of a lecture hall induces a one-to-many conversation. This problem is compounded by the recent budget cuts that have squeezed ever more students into each room. Fortunately, educators have found that Twitter is an effective way to broaden participation in lecture."

A new survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that while one in 10 adults blogs, only 14 percent of teens do, down from nearly 30 percent in 2006. Surprisingly, they don't seem too partial to Twitter either: The Pew survey found that only 8 percent of teenage Internet users tweet.

Sony's Twitter account has generated over 1 millions British pounds in sales, and is especially effective at advertising in conjunction with traditional advertising platforms.

Twitter page for Media Policy Initiative from the New America Foundation

Facebook, Twitter, and the iPhone are TV's only hope, according to Elisabeth Murdoch, CEO of Shine Limited, a British television production and distribution company. According to Broadcasting & Cable, Ms. Murdoch told TV producers and distributors at the annual National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) convention: "We in the TV business have to catch up with \nwhat our audience is doing. We can no longer afford to be one-screen business."

If twitter is a new way to spread news in this digital age, how should we measure impact? This article poses some interesting ideas.

The Official Twitter Page of the US Federal Communications Commission

Help wanted. Must tweet. If you're "passionate about engaging millions" in advancing President Obama's \nagenda, the commander in chief has a job for you. The Democratic National Committee and Organizing for America -- the successor organization to Obama for America -- are seeking a "social networks manager" to oversee Obama's accounts on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. The ideal new hire, according to the official job description, will possess "strong, sharp and personable" writing skills, as well as the ability to craft messages that "move people to act" and managing multiple "complex" projects."

" The Associated Press has activated a Facebook page and added a Twitter account as part of its extensive coverage of the Haiti earthquake. http://www.facebook.com/APNews http://twitter.com/ap"

An experiment about news information flows on Twitter and Facebook.

"A federal court policy-making body is belatedly entering the internet age by proposing that judges clearly inform jurors they must not electronically discuss cases they are hearing."

Gmail users will soon have more ways to keep up with their friends via a widget that shows quick status updates like Facebook and Twitter do, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"When Google unveiled Buzz, its answer to Facebook and Twitter, on Tuesday, it hoped to get its service off to a fast start by scanning the contact lists of Gmail users and automatically adding the most frequent correspondents as online friends. But what the company viewed as an obvious shortcut stirred up a beehive of angry critics.

While the technosphere was busy Tuesday pitting Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) new Buzz service against Facebook and Twitter in some kind of social media steel-cage deathmatch, the search giant's executives were hinting at what they see as the real winning uses for Buzz -- within the enterprise and out and about in the mobile arena.

FT Press, taking a hint from the twitter/blog/rss trend and came up with a business plan to dice up their best book content into smaller, downloadable formats.

NBC, with its exclusive rights to broadcast the Olympics, cut away from the closing ceremonies to debut its new marriage show starring Jerry Seinfeld. Outraged viewers took to twitter, and the incident raised an interesting question of balancing exclusive rights against commercial interests.