A recent article in Wired Magazine reports on one entrepreneur’s vision to harness the power of social networks in an effort to provide people with an opportunity to influence public policy:

“Six Apart co-founder Anil Dash plans to reinvent the way the government listens to its citizens. We’re not talking about wiretapping. Rather, he wants to solicit expert opinions on scientific matters through a new social network belonging to the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Expert Labs. Dash pumped his idea Wednesday afternoon during a keynote address at the Web 2.0 conference in New York.

The new Expert Labs social platforms, Dash said in a statement, have the potential to “make our government better, make our society better, advance scientific research and make people feel more connected to those social institutions that serve them””

Full Article Here

A November 26th, 2009, column in The Los Angeles Times, titled “A Connected Life is a Great Gift” discusses the importance of social networks during the holiday season.  The authors James H. Fowler and Nicholas A. Christakis summarize some of the findings presented in their new book Connected, focusing how at this time of the year, keeping your friends and family around is important.  They write:

“Recent research has shown that we would rather give an anonymous gift to a friend who will never repay us than give a gift to a stranger who will. The reason is that we give to sustain our network. In fact, the natural advantages of a connected life explain why social networks have been with us for hundreds of thousands of years. So as we gather for the holidays, it is important to consider the extraordinary power of our social networks. We not only help ourselves by staying connected, we also help our whole community.”

Full article here