Social Software For Government

Social Software For Government

By Ross Mayfield
Expert Author
Article Date: 2005-10-23

Yesterday I was doing an interview and was asked about the prospect of social software for government.

I pointed out use cases for activism, government as an organization and how Socialtext had three prominent Democratic campaigns as customers. Unfortunately and admittedly Dean, Kerry and Raseij lost.

I was asked if it was okay to have a political bias in business. I explained that we had a decision point on if to serve a Republican campaign as a customer when the business was just four founders. We did, and using the metaphor of a phone company, instilled a principle of non-discrimination for customers.

But just because you are in business does not mean that you should not strongly express your views as an individual and citizen. For that, I thank Adam Bosworth for speaking up.

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About the Author:
Ross Mayfield is CEO and co-founder of Socialtext, an emerging provider of Enterprise Social Software that dramatically increases group productivity and develops a group memory.

He also writes Ross Mayfield's Weblog which focuses on markets, technology and musings.