2009/09/08: We could only speculate whether the health reform would have already been passed, had the White House not been spending so much time exploring social networks. They also have a good excuse to do so; it goes by the name of "open government" and "government 2.0" and completely  legitimizes the use of Facebook and Twitter ...

at least in some countries, there may also be a silver lining to online distractions: if public servants spend too much time on social networking, they also have less time to botch things up  during their working hours.