Lisa Hoover

I've long since given up trying to understand things like who thought up Pet Rocks or why people eat sweetbreads. I'm pretty sure, though, something I read today will have me scratching my head for a long time to come.

ReadWriteWeb is reporting that applicants for jobs with the City of Bozeman, Montana, are expected to provide information about any social networking sites they're a part of, complete with passwords. Let me say right off the bat that I understand new pre-employment policies that request pointers to a personal Web site, Facebook or MySpace page. Personally, I think teasing out information from the vast Internet about prospective employees ought to be the responsibility of Human Resources, but I can also argue that it's more efficient to just ask people to provide it. But passwords? You have to be kidding me.

Every time you turn a corner these days, someone is dispensing advice on "how to connect with your customers on Twitter." There are usually plenty of fancy words like "dialogue" and "communication" thrown in to make corporate Tweeting sound less onerous but let's face facts: it's still PR. Done correctly, however, marketing your product or service on Twitter can gain you new customers and make loyal fans out of the ones you already have. Here are three companies on Twitter that get it right.

Comcast -- Few things provoke instant fury in customers like a cable TV or Internet outage. Since public communication happens on Twitter in near real-time, complaints about a company can spread like wildfire with very little effort. In order to catch dissatisfaction early, Comcast smartly set up a Twitter account, Comcast Cares, to deal directly -- and swiftly -- with disgruntled customers and resolve complaints.

Here's an idea I want to like, but that I can see going downhill in a hurry: Celebrity iGoogle homepages. It's an intriguing concept but since the definition of "celebrity" is such a moving target, I'm afraid we'll see less Sir Anthony Hopkins and more Octo-mom.

According to TechCrunch, "The iGoogle Showcase lets you copy your favorite celeb's iGoogle page to your own, or browse through the collection and choose different gadgets and themes to include from varying pages. Some celebs have created customized gadgets that you can embed."

Gmail users have been getting pretty riled up about seeing more spam in their inbox recently than they're used to. Google says it has fixed a small filter configuration glitch on their end, but many users say are still getting more than their fair share of unwanted mail.

Apparently the problem has been going on for weeks but has gotten particularly bad in the last few days. Despite Google's claim that the issue has been resolved, clearly there are still people who are still having problems. Just today, Google's Gmail help forum has been deluged with complaints, and complaints on Twitter are reaching a fever pitch. Adding to the frustration is the fact that some of the email that does get flagged as spam actually isn't.

Vatican City launched a new Web site today, along with iPhone and Facebook apps designed to help believers connect with His Holiness. This isn't the Pope's first foray into the world of social media -- he's had his own YouTube channel for months.

Pope2u.net is a pretty snazzy site. Visitors can download the Pope's messages and speeches directly to an iPhone, watch videos, and send virtual postcards to others via the Facebook app. The site even has a wiki so believers can "read the message in a new way, interactive and hypertext, through a platform built in the WIKI style."

Many businesses using social media are discovering the charms and benefits of Facebook fan pages. It's a nifty little value-added service that allows businesses and organizations to build an interactive page inside the Facebook ecosystem to engage existing or potential customers. It's an intriguing idea, but does your company really need one?

Fan pages are a great way to reach consumers without resorting to direct email (spam) or hit-or-miss mass snail mail (spam in paper form). Since users make the decision to connect with your company, marketing messages will be anticipated not disregarded. People who add themselves to your fan page typically expect to see at least a little advertising come their way.

There's some hand-wringing going on over the recent announcement that Intelius, an online background check service has purchased Spock, a people search engine, for an undisclosed amount. Some say there's a shady vibe that emanates from Intelius that may not bode well for Spock, but the big concern seems to be that this marriage signals a slippery slide toward an invasion of privacy.

Artwork: Chip TaylorIf you're thinking of signing up for Twitter or Facebook to give your company a competitive edge, what I'm about to say may surprise you. It's not strictly necessary to be involved in online networking to succeed in the business world. Don't get me wrong, social media tools are terrific arrows in your marketing quiver, but they aren't the right fit for every business model. Before you wade hip-deep into the social networking waters, make sure you need to be there in the first place.

No matter what marketing experts may tell you, it's not absolutely vital to set up an online presence on every social networking site out there. Frankly, doing so may end up hurting your company's bottom line instead of helping it. People often remark that managing your oline presence at sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are a giant time suck. Believe me, it's true. An entire morning can fly by while you're busy Tweeting, Plurking, denting, linking, and updating just to stay on top of things.

While everyone has been wringing their hands about the increasing number of spammers on Twitter, a small group of upstarts quietly began assembling while our heads were turned. It began with Shaq and Jon Mayer, then Britney and Miley popped up. Before anyone could stop it Ashton Kutcher was challenging Larry King to a digital duel and soon all of Hollywood was getting involved. Things have come to a head today, ladies and gentlemen. Oprah is in the house.

Remember back in the day when we worked from 9-5, nights and weekends were reserved for friends and family, and never the twain shall meet? Now that an estimated 23% of American workers telecommute, many use online social networks as a way to stay connected to co-workers and colleagues. Those who are chained to a company desk often use (or sneak onto) Twitter or Facebook to stay in touch with friends outside of work.

DaniWeb's Ron Miller notes that the lines between work and home life are quickly becoming blurred and social networks had better be prepared to keep up. He makes a number of compelling points in his article, but this is what really stood out for me.

There's a new study out this week that claims employees are actually more productive at work when they can take short breaks throughout the day to to surf the Internet. Should companies drop Internet access restrictions and let employees Twitter away their coffee breaks?

On the heels of a recent New York Times report that Facebook expects to register its 200 millionth member anytime now comes news that the company is also trying to drum up money to help manage its explosive growth. Frankly, wads of cash isn't all Facebook needs.

BusinessWeek reports that Facebook is shopping around for new credit lines intended to help finance improved infrastructure. One thing the company apparently needs is better a way to manage its massive photo storage needs. According to the article, Facebook is now the largest photo-sharing site on the planet and is struggling under the weight of more than 10 billion images that have been uploaded by users. Facebook needs a place to put all those photos and, as a result, its storage technology needs are skyrocketing.