• Ars Technica, Monday, October 27, 2008 12 PM

Following the news from Nielsen that social networking services from MySpace to Twitter are exploding in popularity across the U.S.--indicating that the population is more comfortable than ever interacting digitally with one another and their favorite brands--a report from Gartner VP and distinguished analyst Andrea Di Maio says it's time for the government to seriously consider transitioning some of its services to social network applications.

Gartner's report says that government processes such as human services, tax and revenue, healthcare, and education could one day incorporate social networking tools. It cites the ability of social networks to blur departmental boundaries and increase horizontal exchange among departments as perfect fits for government needs.

What the report didn't address is questions of privacy and security that might arise should the government, for example, turns its IRS presence online into a Facebook-like application. But such issues would surely have to be addressed--just ask Google and DoubleClick, who are no strangers to such concerns.

Read the whole story at Ars Technica »