In September last year I wondered whether 2010 would be the year when someone poisoned the well for the use of social media by the EU (here and here). In the last few weeks I’ve been mentally preparing an update post, as it didn’t really look like it was going to happen. So is the [...]

Over on the Belgian IABC’s thriving ‘web2eu’ site, Philip Weiss embedded a TED video of Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, discussing the revolutionary impact of social media (more references on the be-IABC site). It’s really so good I thought I’d repost it here and add some observations (it takes some time to load):

An analysis of participation rates in the Obama Administration’s Open Government initiative provide a refreshing reality check for us in Europe. One would think, based on some of my posts, that I was a starry-eyed idealist when it comes to the potential of online communications to improve understanding and participation in the EU by Europeans. [...]

So I thought it would be interesting, as the hysteria fades, to take a short, unrepresentative tour of how EU-oriented bloggers greeted Barak Obama’s victory. This is by no means a scientific or exhaustive survey – just a few quotes and links – and it’s highly unrepresentative because, of the acres of blogprint dedicated to [...]