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1. News & Events Obviously, the first step is to use Twitter for press releases, news & events. It only adds an extra communication channel next to the local newspaper, website and RSS feed.

4. Transportation The Oregon Department of Transport (@oregondot) has been doing a great job by tweeting on road conditions, traffic jams, weather and travel information. They also have a great safety tip: Don’t Tweet ‘n Drive!

7. City Council

Either way, the internet, not to mention Twitter feeds, are abuzz with news that President Obama doesn't use the popular social media application after he admitted to a group of Chinese students in Shanghai that he's "too clumsy to type on the phone". The question came about after he was asked by one of the students, "Should we be able to use Twitter freely?" In a country where the internet is heavily censored and online dissent clamped down upon, it was a critical question for the President. "Well, first of all, let me say that I have never used Twitter. My thumbs are too clumsy to type in things on the phone," Obama replied. (However, it was widely reported that upon entering the White House, the new President refused to give up his Blackberry much to the chagrin of the Secret Service.)

But because in the United States, information is free, and I have a lot of critics in the United States who can say all kinds of things about me, I actually think that that makes our democracy stronger and it makes me a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don't want to hear."

Tunisians got an alternative picture from Facebook, which remained uncensored through the protests, and they communicated events to the rest of the world by posting videos to YouTube and Dailymotion.

Not content just to filter content, last summer Tunisian authorities began "phishing" attacks on activists' Gmail and Facebook accounts

Tunisia has aggressively censored the Internet since 2005, blocking not just explicitly political sites, but social media sites like video-sharing service Dailymotion

The capacities of the Internet that are most threatening to authoritarian regimes are not necessarily those pertaining to spreading of censored information but rather its ability to support the formation of a counter-public that is outside the control of the state

Dissent is not just about knowing what you think but about the formation of a public. A public is not just about what you know. Publics form through knowing that other people know what you know–and also knowing that you know what they know.

Thus, social media can be the most threatening part of the Internet to an authoritarian regime through its capacity to create a public(ish) sphere that is integrated into everyday life of millions of people and is outside the direct control of the state partly because it is so widespread and partly because it is not solely focused on politics. How do you censor five million Facebook accounts in real time except to shut them all down?