Ines Mergel: Web 2.0 Enthusiasts Worth Following on Twitter

by Ines Mergel

I am a Twitter enthusiast and as one of those people who do spend a lot of time online, I noticed that Twitter is one of the information channels, that help me get access to information, that is otherwise not on my radar screen or I would not get access to.

Twitter – for me personally as a Government 2.0 researcher – therefore has the potential to bridge structural holes in the communication and information structure that I have built over the years. In addition, I noticed that it is expanding my attention network of a) topics I should pay attention to, and b) people and their public conversation streams that are interesting to know. In a new information paradigm of the US government to move from a need to know to a need to share strategy, I thought I would share a few interesting people whose information and conversation who might be interesting to listen in to.

Without trying to convince anyone of the power of public conversations happening on Twitter, I put together a list of people and organizations that might have helpful information for anyone interested in Web 2.0 in government:

@timoreilly: Tim O’Reilly is the found and CEO of O’Reilly Media, traditionally known for publishing IT-related books, isnow a supporter of Government 2.0 and hosts conferences on the topic. Definitely worth following -> I learned a LOT!

@mcaffee: Andrew McAffee, a former professor at Harvard Business School, has coined the term Enterprise 2.0. Andy addresses corporate but also general Web 2.0 problems and is asking questions using the hashtag #andyasks -> add the tag to the new search function, so that you can revisit the information purring in every few days.

If you like tweets from space live from the repair team of the Hubble telescope, space astronaut Mike Massimino is tweeting his observations directly from the space shuttle: @Astro_Mike. NASA itself was one of the first twitter users within the US federal government: @NASA:

As the swine flu (H1N1) developed and the threat level has increased to a pandemic disease, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the US has adopted a comprehensive Web 2.0 approach to reach potential groups that are at risk at the virtual locations they might be frequenting the most. I posted a blog entry on this on my blog with an overview of tools used. On Twitter: @CDCemergency.

There are tons of government agencies present on Twitter and BearingPoint has put together a huge list that can be found here.

I have selected a few government agencies I am following and find helpful:

In addition, the tweets of government-related IT publications and organizations might be helpful to learn about ongoing initiatives and news:

As I am located in the US, this post and my list of favorite Web 2.0 people is very much US-centric. Please leave your suggestions for additional Twitter accounts in the comments!

Following me on Twitter: @inesmergel [http://twitter.com/inesmergel]

About Philipp

Philipp Müller works in the IT industry and is academic dean of the SMBS. Author of "Machiavelli.net". Proud father of three amazing children. The views expressed in this blog are his own.

18. May 2009 by Philipp
Categories: Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , | 6 comments

Comments (6)

  1. erebrin@gmail.com'

    Thank you for your helpful and informative suggestions! Here is one I like to keep up with focused on economics and politics:

    @baselinescene: Tweets from the Baseline Scenario – a blog that is dedicated to explaining key issues of the global economy and developing concrete policy proposals and has been cited by a number of top newpapers and magazines, including the NY Times, The Economist, The Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal. It is written by Peter Boone (London School of Economics), Simon Johnson (former Chief Economist at the IMF), and James Kwak (former McKinsey consultant).

  2. erebrin@gmail.com'

    Thank you for your helpful and informative suggestions! Here is one I like to keep up with focused on economics and politics:

    @baselinescene: Tweets from the Baseline Scenario – a blog that is dedicated to explaining key issues of the global economy and developing concrete policy proposals and has been cited by a number of top newpapers and magazines, including the NY Times, The Economist, The Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal. It is written by Peter Boone (London School of Economics), Simon Johnson (former Chief Economist at the IMF), and James Kwak (former McKinsey consultant).

  3. violetta.pleshakova@gmail.com'

    Thanks for sharing this interesting list!

    I like
    http://twitter.com/tweetmeme – aggregation of popular topics on twitter
    http://twitter.com/GoodSocial – updates on various issues of social networking

  4. violetta.pleshakova@gmail.com'

    Thanks for sharing this interesting list!

    I like
    http://twitter.com/tweetmeme – aggregation of popular topics on twitter
    http://twitter.com/GoodSocial – updates on various issues of social networking

  5. anke.domscheit@microsoft.com'

    I recommend
    @govloop – the twitteraccount for the govloop social network (calling itself the facebook for government). It has a strong focus on gov 2.0 topics.

    Anke Domscheit
    initiator of Government 2.0 Camp in Berlin, Germany – 28.08.2009
    http://www.gov20camp-berlin.mixxt.de
    (@gov20campB)

  6. anke.domscheit@microsoft.com'

    I recommend
    @govloop – the twitteraccount for the govloop social network (calling itself the facebook for government). It has a strong focus on gov 2.0 topics.

    Anke Domscheit
    initiator of Government 2.0 Camp in Berlin, Germany – 28.08.2009
    http://www.gov20camp-berlin.mixxt.de
    (@gov20campB)