FBI & Social Networking

In what may be proof that social networking is a becoming an even more avoidable part of everyone's life, TechCrunch reports that the FBI has set up shop on Facebook, Twitter and several other sites you may have heard a lot about recently. One can assume that the FBI already works relatively closely with the likes of these sites so I can't really help but wonder what their goal is in having a public presence. Are they attempting to attract new recruits? Are they trying to be as "in touch" as Barack Obama? Are they trying to scare away predators by being more obvious? Chances are the answer is a combination of all these things and several others I can't even dream up.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the article comes as a quite from Jonathan Cox at the FBI: "We have a widget that works on MySpace, but nothing formal yet. Its a long vetting process and I have so many government rules to follow it would make your head spin. This is just the beginning though. I’ll keep you posted as things progress. Thanks.”

I'm lucky (and I guess that's debateable depending on who you ask) to work for a company that is not only in the private sector, but is also an internet/technology business. Not only am I fully ingrained in the latest and greatest sites out there, I feel like knowing it is necessary to do my job most effectively. I know a lot of people don't use the internet and its various technologies as much as I do, but I can't help but wonder who at the FBI is responsible for maintaining their sites/profiles. What sort of "government rules" do they have to follow and how much would they make me cringe and/or laugh? I'm guessing a lot of them weren't written for the likes of creating and maintaing profiles on Facebook.