This is part of an ongoing series about government 2.0 written by Dr. Mark Drapeau. To view previous posts in the series click here.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.” These words are no less true today, over 150 years later. But now there are many new technologies and tools available that can be used to measure and influence public opinion. One thing I have been thinking about a lot lately is how the government can use these tools to further its existing goals, and enable novel ones as well.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, known by most people as NASA, is a government agency heavily covered by mainstream news media – when things go wrong. But there is an interesting new experimental initiative at NASA called CoLab, the goals of which are to act as “advisor and consultant to groups within NASA, building direct and open collaborations between the public and NASA scientists and engineers…[and] use technology to facilitate public contributions to NASA activities.”

At the recent INTERACT08 event on media and technology held in Washington DC, John Bell of Ogilvy PR pointed out that great “emerging” brands like eBay, YouTube, and Netflix are authentic, adaptive, relevant, transformative, fresh, immersive, and social. So when Peter Gray, the NASA CoLab Program Manager, met with me on a recent trip to Washington, DC and said that their big buzzwords were “participate, collaborate, and innovate,” that sounded a lot like emerging NASA brand – and Government 2.0 – to me.

NASA CoLab is trying some innovative things to reach out to the public. There is currently a co-working space in Silicon Valley open seven days a week. Eventually they hope to host co-working spaces in major U.S. cities that are “the NASA equivalent of an Apple Store” as Mr. Gray put it. That would be very hip indeed.

Additionally, the “Luna Philosophie” series, held at San Francisco’s Yahoo! Brickhouse incubator (in coordination with the full moon, no less), is a series of open conversations on different topics broadcast using USTREAM.TV. CoLab has also participated in national conferences, and held Camp CoLab brainstorming sessions with NASA staff about how to change and adapt CoLab across the ten or so different NASA facilities around the country.

Leaving the real world for a minute, there is an elaborate NASA presence on “CoLab Island” in Second Life, providing information about all sorts of activities with an additional emphasis on having “launch parties” and the like (a great description can be found here). However, despite this high-quality (and perhaps necessary) presence, because Second Life has very few habitual users, I wonder about the effect it has had.

If the goal is to promote NASA activities, are there not simpler ways to reach more people? And if the goal is to make personal connections with techies and influencers, one might question the ultimate value of Second Life outreach in comparison with having scientists and astronauts at (for example) the recent DEMOfall 08, Web 2.0 Expo, and BlogWorldExpo events simply chatting with people and handing out CoLab swag. As I heard over and over at INTERACT08, sometimes “old school” can be a great tactic even as part of a high-tech strategy.

More disappointing is the lack of presence of NASA CoLab on popular social networking services, where it is arguably easier to listen to and engage with people. On Twitter and Pownce, they have under 300 followers. A quantitative breakdown for the last few months shows they are following zero people, posting once every 3-4 days, and not engaging in @ replies with other users. Ironically, a key CoLab staffer, Ariel Waldman, is well-known for her work at Pownce. The CoLab presence on Facebook (108 total group members) isn’t much better, with the main page still advertising an ‘upcoming’ event in June 2007. (It should be noted, however, that other NASA brands do very well on Twitter).

This is clearly a work in progress and isn’t yet an outstanding model of government “CoLab-oration” with its citizens. Nevertheless, with an agile, lightly-funded staff, CoLab must be given a lot of credit for experimenting with new ideas, reaching out to the public, and doing more than most any other government agency in taking advantage of new media.

As Richard Edelman, President and CEO of the highly-regarded eponymous public relations firm, recently pointed out on his blog, government public relations is a tricky business. Along the lines of his statement that, “Effective PR is about facts, but also ease of access and compelling examples,” the government could use CoLab as an exemplar, a program giving citizens access to information, and providing people with compelling examples of the good things government does every day.

Dr. Mark Drapeau is an Associate Research Fellow at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy of the National Defense University in Washington, DC. These views are his own and not the official policy or position of any part of the U.S. Government.

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Company Name

Fidj.it

20-Word description

Fidj.it is a free service that lets you share posts, links and more with your friends, family and co-workers.

CEO’s Pitch

It’s a micro-blogging site where users can share posts of an unlimited length, links to websites and files. Users have a 200MB sandbox which is accessible by both users and applications.

So far, so Pownce. However, where we really differ is that we will be offering SMS updates and support for uploading files from your mobile. We are also building an advanced API that will allow applications developed on it to be run from inside Fidj.it (similar to Facebook) as well as outside.

Mashable’s Take

Fidj.it is a micro-blogging service that’s like a Twitter and Pownce mashup. There isn’t a 140-character limit as members can post messages of unlimited length. Also, you can share links and files that you upload ala Pownce style. The size limit for files is 50 MB. The limit for maximum number of people that you can follow is a meager 1,000 at this time as they continue to develop their new service and plan to increase that limit as soon as they can.

Behind the scenes, Fidj.it has some rather ambitious plans for the near future. They plan to differentiate themselves from Pownce and others by providing SMS access and file uploading from mobile devices. They are also working on providing a rich API for developers who want to build applications that can actually work from within Fidjit much like applications work within Facebook. By default, every member gets a 200 MB sandbox to store files and applications which could make this a very useful service for the mobile crowd, especially iPhone users.

I was disappointed to see that the links you share on Fidj.it are not handled the same way they are on some other services such as Plurk or Rejaw. For example, when you share a link to a YouTube video on those micro-blogging platforms the actual video is displayed within the message itself so members can view it there and don’t have to go to YouTube to watch it. Plurk does the same thing with links to photos from sites such as from Flickr (Rejaw doesn’t). On Fidj.it when you share similar items they are displayed as a link.

In the meantime, it will be interesting to see if Fidjit can actually establish a new platform for storing files and hosting micro-blogging apps for mobile users.

Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Sponsored By: Sun Startup Essentials

This is a guest post written by Michael Cerda. He blogs about startups, people and the variety hour at Cerdafied.

Outsourcing product development (or parts of development) offshore sounds like a good idea at the time. After all, you can augment your dev group quickly and on the cheap. But it only seems to work under certain conditions; mileage does vary depending on the company. Longer-term enterprise development projects tend to be better suited for outsourcing than shorter-term consumer Internet projects for example (I learned this the hard way). It has to do with development cycles, level of skill required for tasks, time to market, and the ability to iterate.

Arguably, you shouldn’t ever completely outsource your product development. Some things are just too strategic to lose control over. If you do decide to outsource some parts, here are some tips.

1. Hire one of them

Hire someone locally who was originally from the country you’re outsourcing to. Oftentimes different languages or dialects exist in other countries, so be sure your guy speaks the lingo. Also be tuned into other cultural nuances (for example, make sure there aren’t centuries-old bad blood between your guy and the people at the firm you use).

2. Nurture them

You’ll want to take the time and make the investment in having an occasional call or even a visit to the offshore location. Offering a face and voice from the top helps gain buy-in, support and motivation for the project. Obviously if you have to do too much of this, it’s not worth it.

3. Package the tasks

Be mindful not to overwhelm them with a complex project with multiple touch points and dependencies. Have a baked, signed off spec completed and committed to and assign straightforward pieces of it. When you assign something, ask for a time/cost estimate which you can measure back to later. Once the work has been verified and tested you’ll be able to establish a baseline level of quality and performance; from there you’ll be able to give them more rope.

4. Top grade

Offshore dev shops tend to assign you a mixed team of some good folks, some ok folks, and some green folks. These proportions are simply part of their business model. Just don’t let it get the best of your development cycle and product quality. Ask for resumes and interviews of the people they’re assigning to your team.

5. Communicate with one voice

Use the guy from #1 to funnel all communications between your team and theirs. Besides language and time zone issues, there are project management and accountability requirements. The more chiefs you have, the more fingers you have pointing. You can’t afford the he said/she said.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:VitaminT Becomes DaytipperIndian IT: Outsourcing To Decline?iexpenseonline: Personal Finance with User TipsVOIS: Virtual Outsourcing is Simple. And Now Social.10 Tools For The Best Earth Day EverTipit.to: Digg for Cash Tips?15+ Online Tools For The Perfect Prom

Source:Mashable!

Firefox can be made into so much more than just a browser via its huge extension base.  Yes, this means you can replace some of your instant messenger, chat and microblogging needs by adding just a few extensions. Here are 18 tools that will let you turn your Firefox 3 browser into a communications portal.

Whenever we discuss numerous Firefox add-ons, we like to remind you that we do not recommend you install ALL of them unless you like your browser slowing down.

Messaging

ChatZilla! - In a time before instant messengers exploded in popularity, Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was all the rage, and it is still quite popular.  This extension will add an IRC client to your browser so you don’t have to open a separate program.

Gabbly Chat Sidebar - A sidebar client for Gabbly chats hosted on any Web page or community.

Google Talk - Allows you to add Google Talk integration to your browser.

GTalk Sidebar - This sidebar extension allows you to use Google Talk in your window without having to stay on GMail all the time. It also lets you save yourself the effort of installing the stand alone GTalk application for your desktop.

Meebo - Adds integrated instant messaging via the Meebo system inside of your browser.  In the sidebar you can see which buddies are online, as well as which system they are using, and when need be, you can drag links and images over to them.  You can learn more about Meebo in this episode of Mashable Conversations.

SamePlace - Works in Firefox, Flock and Thunderbird to give you the ability to chat with your contacts on AIM, GTalk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Twitter and Yahoo.

SMS Sidebar - This extensions gives you the ability to send SMS messages to just about any phone in the world.  It does cost money after the first 50 text messages, but seems to be reasonably priced and offers numerous features.

WataCrackaz AutoSMS - Allows free two-way SMS text messaging to phones all around the world and actually allows you to receive replies.

Yaplet - Adds the Yaplet chat system to your sidebar so you no longer have to switch tabs while you chat and can continue to surf as you talk.

Yoono - The Yoono sidebar can be updated with widgets for all major instant messengers.

Microblogging

FirePownce - An official extension from Pownce that allows you to update your account via a button added to Firefox.

Fownce -Allows you to post the current URL you are viewing to Pownce or just post a general update to your account.

Mahalo Share - Lets you recommend a page across numerous services, including Pownce and Twitter.

Shareaholic.com - Lets you update numerous services from one handy plugin, including Pownce and Twitter.

Twitkit - Highly customizable Twitter application that allows you to choose colors, look up your account information, manage your followers and more.

TwitterBar - An interesting extension for Firefox that allows you to use the browser’s address bat to also send Tweets to your account on Twitter.

TwittyTunes - Feel a burning desire to tell Twitter what you are listening to via FoxyTunes?  This extension will solve your dilemma.

Twitzer - Twitzer is not a Twitter client, but a tool to help you get more than the 140 characters into that little box.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:400 Million Firefox DownloadsFirefox Campus Edition LaunchesSave the Date for the New Communications Forum 2008Baidu Gets Firefox Deal in ChinaFirefox 2 Security Fixes ReleasedMozilla: Would You Like a Virus With That Add-on?Firefox Now Officially Hates Me

Sean and I today got to chatting about the limits enacted by Pownce and Twitter recently that limits the number of folks you can follow on the system to around 2,000 or so. As I tried to explore when I reported the news a couple of days ago, Sean and I attempted to drill down and try to come up with some legitimate reasons to need the ability to follow more than 2,000 folks and came up pretty blank.

What we did discuss were some new updates we’d received regarding those that operate the Twitter auto-follow bots on the network, and based on their testing, even after the supposed follow limits have been implemented, it appears that the bot is still able to game the system and follow folks in numbers that far exceed 2,000.

It caused us to wonder exactly to what benefit the limitations are actually intended, or if these accounts were simply being grandfathered in.  To catch the whole discussion (and an interview with “Party Charlie“), watch the video via the embed below, or download the MP4 here.

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—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Twitter Launches People SearchTwitter + Video = TwiddeoLoic Lemeur’s “Video Twitter” to Announce Funding [Video]Twitter Mobile InterfaceOutTwit Your Friends from Microsoft OutlookQuick Fix For Twitter TroublesDon’t Send Bac’n: Use TwitterSearch

Account limiting is apparently the new big thing to do in the world of Status Microblogging.  Both Twitter and Pownce seem to have introduced limits to the number of people you can follow, and neither change seems to have come with much fan fare, by what I can tell.

My first tip-off today was earlier on FriendFeed, when discussions were initiated by Robert Scoble, Louis Gray as well as a blog post by David Risley. There are a few classifications of folks that are really upset about this new limitation: those who feel they must follow back every new follower to their feed, people like Robert Scoble who buy into this concept that you have to listen to everyone on the system to really gain value from it, and those who are just trying to game the system to get more followers.

Pownce, similarly, seems to have engaged a 2000 person limit to the number of folks you can follow, as discovered by Leo Laporte earlier today. For once, though Twitter seems to have outflanked a competitor in terms of properly implementing new code as the new limitations on Pownce have apparently prevented Leo and others from even logging into their accounts to reduce the number followed to under 2000.

For those of you who aren’t avid users of Twitter (or those who feel more than happy with their usage of the system being limited to 100 or less followed): yes, Twitter can be useful and even invaluable to most of us without turning on an incessant firehose of tweets. But since Twitter can be such a momentous source of traffic and engaged readers to whatever website property you may be promoting, there are those who will go around and follow everyone they can find with the hopes that they’ll follow them back.

Twitter Spammers are More Savvy Than You Think.

Of course, once they follow those folks back, they’re a captive audience to whatever it is they’re promoting.  Fortunately, as we’ve discussed in the past, these system-abusers are generally pretty easy to spot - they’ve got about 20 people following their timeline and they’re usually following 10x or 100x that number.  This has given rise to a whole new classification of Twitter gaming bots.

There are those I’ve talked to who’ve used, quite successfully, bots that will literally game the psychology of Twitter to induce folks to follow them. Experienced users of Twitter know when the aforementioned ratio of followers to followed is seen that it’s a spammer. To counter-act that, these Twitter friend-adding bots will automatically unfollow those who do not follow back within a certain time reference.  Additionally, to increase the likelihood that they’ll follow in the first place, the system will track the public timeline and only add users based on pre-defined keywords that are relevant to what it is they’re promoting.

Twitter has made a very savvy move here in capping off the number of folks you can follow.  I’d say there are generously about ten or fifteen folks that I think can legitimately handle all that white noise and process it using the system. The rest of the folks who follow in excess of 2000 people are either training themselves for when they’re able to directly plug into the Matrix, or they’re simply doing it for the purposes of appearing as if they’re listening (whether to gain followers’ respect or save face or game the system).

Is There a Legitimate Reason to Follow More Folks?

I’d say a conditional no. Obviously Robert Scoble and a few folks like him have an uncanny ability to follow and make sense of immense amounts of data (as is evidenced by his boasts of items read in Google Reader as well as is follow count). For mere mortals, though, we have other stuff to do, and by and large we prefer to have a few dozen relationships we can truly engage in rather than 9,000+ that we once a month may shoot off a message to.

That really only leaves two reasons as to why you’d be upset by this limitation: you don’t want to offend some of your fans by not following them back once they add you, or you’re a marketer looking to have the widest possible Twitter distribution. Personally, I’ve been quite selective with whom I’ve followed on Twitter, FriendFeed and other social sites. Perhaps it’s ego, but I feel that I need to be interested in your feed to follow it, just as you were interested in my feed enough to follow it.  If I don’t follow you back, it isn’t an insult, it just means I don’t know you from Adam.

Still, there is going to be a few folks legitimately very miffed by this scaleback, and they’re going to be the ones with the biggest megaphones. The best bit of advice I can offer to Twitter (and Pownce) is to either make a few special allowances for their power users and evangelists, or in Twitter’s case open up the XMPP firehose for those as they have a few special developer partners.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Pownce Improves Its APIPownce Releases Public APIPownce Gets New FeaturesPownce Adds RSS, Support For More Video/Photo SitesPownce: Publicly Share Files via Lifestreams (Why Not?)Access Pownce from your IM with New Add-onPownce Invites Increased: Please Invite Others

Amtrak is excited to announce the launch of a new train service - the 2107 Microblogging Express. Please view the video below to experience a trip on the new 2107 Microblogging Express. We make a variety of station stops and connect to all local service.

This service even includes new services Posterous and Identi.ca.

People referenced in the video: Sarah Perez, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Robert Scoble, Louis Gray, Steven Hodson, Corvida and Steve Rubel. Our special tickettaker is Tamar Weinberg.

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Tired of hearing about Twitter? Apologies, but this post is based on the Twitter phenomenon. Issues of scalability, however, are thankfully not present. Instead, I want to examine Twitter as an anomaly in consumer loyalty and an example of the bizarre market dynamics emerging in the "consumer" web.

Consumer loyalty is traditionally connected to the numerous meanings of the word "value." Typically, the value of a product - say a vacuum cleaner - surrounds an exchange of currency to fill a void or fix a problem. A consumer paying $400 for Dyson expects more "value" than someone purchasing a Wal-Mart branded device. The extra money equals cleaner floors, better turning radius, cooler design, a futuristic feeling, etc. This is common sense lesson in Consumerism 1.0: functionality is directly connected to price.

Using the Dyson example, Twitter is not expected to deliver superior performance since no money is being exchanged. The staff seems to understand this dynamic as demonstrated by messages like "Yesterday pizza was sent to Twitter HQ by friendly twitterers and today it’s a keg of beer from @Mister_Robotics THANKS!" Downtime is inconsequential when you have no financial obligations to customers. Looking at the graph below, Twitter has never been an extremely reliable service.

So why are Twitter followers so loyal? Why don’t they jump ship? The answer partly lies in the forces governing the web economy: trust and attention. The Twitter machine does a fantastic job of garnering attention - countless news headlines and millions of tweets per day provide enough entertainment for all levels of usage. Trust is also present despite the complaints and the recent "Twit-Out." With fresh money (a rumored $15 million from Spark Capital), investors and consumer demand seem to be predicting longevity for an already rocky relationship.

There is a magic integer, however, present in both the Twitter’s loyal following and the larger non-profitable web economy as a whole. Countless "me-too" services are dismissed daily, but when a behemoth like Twitter stumbles these ghosts remain in the ether. Look at the growth of Pownce vs. Twitter:

The message to struggling competitors from both investors and users seems to be "don’t build a solid business." Quickly construct an attractive application, collect a massive network of data and forget about customer loyalty. Pownce is playing by the Consumerism 1.0 rules outlined in the Dyson example and struggling in traffic as a result. The company allows advertising for a flat $3.00 CPM and scaled the community by requiring invites during the first few months. Pownce also powered their platform on Python - a language used by companies of massive proportions like Google, Yahoo, and NASA.

Pownce users "pay" for product value through advertisements. Generating revenue was the price for superior products in the traditional consumer marketplace. Welcome to the "don’t build a business" era.

This column was provided by Andy Angelos who is a young startup veteran critiquing the tech world from his home in Chicago, IL. Read more at www.webforchange.org.

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