Report: Iridium to Help Twitter Make SMS Available on All Phones

Iridium is among the few satellite operators Twitter is partnering with in the U.S. to expand the social network’s short message service reach, ZDNet reports. 

Twitter plans to give subscribers access to SMS capabilities on any mobile device, according to ZDNet. The aim is to provide users pertinent information in cases of emergencies. 

Iridium will help Twitter act…

Report: US, Syrians Could Still Talk on Social Media

The U.S. has closed its embassy in Syria but could still use social media to communicate with Syrians, NextGov reports.

Experts told NextGov that State Department officials could still interact with Syrian activists and citizens on Facebook or Twitter.

The department has not confirmed plans…

DHS Keeping Watchful Eye on Social Media, Storing Information

The Department of Homeland Security announced last month it was looking into how it could use Twitter as an intelligence tool and how to monitor social media networks.

DHS is now creating accounts to monitor site activity and establish an archiving system for the information it gathers, ABC News reports.

“The…

Survey: Federal Agencies, Employees Embracing Social Media for Reasons Similar to Contractors

More federal agencies are embracing social media in 2011, a sharp contrast from the apprehension they showed in 2010, according to a recent survey of 352 federal government employees by research firm Market Connections. 

A Professional Service Council summary of the survey in Service Contractor magazine said 19 percent of agencies surveyed continue to restrict access to some…

Salesforce, Rypple Aim to Create a Social Enterprise to Promote Agency Goals

Last week, Salesforce.com announced a social networking acquisition that has been long in the making, according to John Wookey, executive vice president of advanced applications. 

The company said it will acquire Rypple, a cloud-based performance management services provider, and bring on all of Rypple’s staff and offerings. Wookey will run Rypple’s operations, which Salesforce will rename…

Mobility, Social Media Highlight IDC’s 2012 Government IT Forecast

Operational efficiency, mobility, smart government and economic stability will be the key themes of government investment in information technology for 2012, according to a forecast from IDC Government Insights.

As covered by InformationWeek, IDC predicts governments at all levels will spend nearly $82.4 billion on hardware, software and IT services in 2012.

IDC found…

MarkLogic Intos New Social Media Channels at Gov’t Summit

MarkLogic recently held its annual Government Summit, included more than 350 government and industry decision maker attendees who explored big data solutions.

Amidst panels and discussions was the official launch of the MarkLogic Public Sector Twitter handle, @MarkLogicPubSec and the MarkLogic Public Sector Facebook page.

“This year’s MarkLogic Government Summit gave public…

IBM Cloud Delivery of Smarter Commerce Grows

IBM has a new cloud and on-premise offering that will help organizations with automatic response to shifting consumer and business trends. The new solutions include Commerce-as-a-Service and Social Media Marketing which combine technology from prior acquisitions including Unica, Coremetrics and Sterling Commerce.

Companies will be able to intelligently automate supplier and trading partner applications, automatically turn marketplace insights into…

Yahoo Testing ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ Theory on Facebook

Yahoo Research launched an online study this week to test the well-known social theory that says any two people can be linked through six degrees of separation.

To pull off the Small World Experiment, Yahoo is asking for help from the the nearly 750 million Facebook users.

Any Facebook user can…

VA Announces Social Media Policy

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced today a new social media policy regarding the secure use of online platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

The policy, titled “VA Directive 6515: Use of Web-Based Collaboration Technologies,” outlines the rules for the department and its employees to leverage these types of platforms to enhance communication, stakeholder outreach and information…