This report is free. The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0, is a meaty guide to social media (great charts, tables, screenshots) that focuses on blogging in the public sector. The most intriguing case study is about how blogging is being used as part of the War on Terror by the U.S. Military. General James Cartwright, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), offers a fascinating glimpse into how blogs are part of STRATCOM's online information management system.
Blogging enables decision-making on a dime, 24X7, he explains. Information supplied by a 19-year-old private may be just as – or more – important than what a commanding officer contributes. Currently, the system is logging 250,000 – 350,000 blog entries or comments (he calls them transactions) per hour.
The report covers some of the same ground as my book, The Corporate Blogging Book, but it's written in a dryer, more academic fashion. The author is David Wyld, a professor at Southeastern Louisiana University. My one quibble is that, while the report is heavily footnoted, he makes no mention of any other books about blogging (including mine).
Seems like a conspicuous omission to me. (I reference several “competitor” books at the back of mine in a Recommended Reading suggestion). The report is nicely laid out, however, and I highly recommend it.
You can download and print out the report, published by IBM's' Center for The Business of Government. Or request to have a bound copy sent to you. It's a 97-page, 8 1/2 X 11 inch softcover. Download page