Thanks everyone for your thoughtful comments on my first blog post. I'm looking forward to receiving feedback on how to truly make this a tool that everyone can benefit from, so keep those ideas coming!

I could probably write about the use of social media (or lack thereof) in the federal government ad nauseam and not run out of things to say. What puzzles me, is that bans on various social media vehicles aren't consistent across all agencies. It is definitely a barrier for most federal government clients that I talk to, but there are a few agencies that are less restricted. For example, I spoke with a client at a civilian agency today about social networking, and he mentioned that his agency has restrictions on the use of LinkedIn and Twitter, but that employees are allowed to use Facebook. I found this quite interesting. At the end of our discussion, he offered to become Facebook "friends" as a way to stay connected, but only with the caveat that there may be one or two embarrassing photos on his page :).

The good news is that it looks like the Defense Department is soliciting the public for help forming a social media policy. Take a look at this article by Bob Brewin on nextgov.com:

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng\_20090810\_5115.php?oref=topnews