Feeling the Connection

Marc Ambinder has an interesting post over at The Atlantic about the Defense Department's decision to dip its toe in the ocean of social media. The specifics are interesting, particularly the misunderstandings (the Secret Service didn't know that the Department of Homeland Security had created a Twitter account for them), but I think this more general observation is both true and reflective of things we've been writing about social media here for a long time:

Effective Twittering can create the illusion that a senior government official is closer to the masses. And perhaps just as importantly, good Twittering can humanize decision makers. Government agencies are experimenting with the transformational media platform at their own pace -- especially those dealing with National Security. Twitter users tend to fit the "connector" profile, popularized from science literature by Malcolm Gladwell. They develop power and influence through building their personal and professional networks, aggregating and sharing information as they go along. It's a tempting elite audience to reach.

That's no more or less true for national security agencies than for any other government agency.