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Public Involvement Network News
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Web 2.0: Choosing Social Media
Pat Bonner
The General Services Administration – the people who designed the Firstgov web site - now called USAGov– has created a USAGov Web Content site that may be very helpful to you if you have anything to do with the content of web pages. It’s very content rich. If you cannot find what you are looking for among the array of items on the home page, drop to the bottom and look at the Topics from A-Z.
If you are thinking about expanding your target audience and want to engage young people and others keen on Web 2.0, you might want to have a look at the USAGov site on blogs, USAGov site on podcasts and USAGov site on RSS feeds.
The following are the opening words on the three links above.
“A weblog, which is usually shortened to blog, is a website where regular entries are made (such as in a journal or diary) and presented in reverse chronological order.”
Podcasts are defined as “a way of publishing MP3 audio files on the Web so they can be downloaded onto computers or portable listening devices, such as iPods or other MP3 players.”
“RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (among other things). It is a web content format which, when used with an RSS aggregator, can allow you to alert users to new or exciting content on your website. These news feeds enable users to avoid the conventional methods of browsing or searching for information on websites.”
The IBM Center for the Business of Government has just released another report in its E-Government series, “The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0,” by David C. Wyld, of Southeastern Louisiana University. 
And Jacob Neilsen, thought of by many as “the usability guru,” published an article in which he shares other thoughts about blogs. A summary of his advice is that to demonstrate world-class expertise, avoid quickly written, shallow postings. Instead, invest your time in thorough, value-added content that attracts paying customers.