The Biblio File

Wired has an interesting article about how student activists in Egypt have used Facebook to help organize political action:

Back in March, [Ahmed] Maher and a friend launched a Facebook group to promote a protest planned for April 6. It became an Internet phenomenon, quickly attracting more than 70,000 members. The April 6 youth movement — amorphous, lacking a clear mission, and yet a bull’s-eye to the zeitgeist — blossomed within days into something influential enough to arouse the ire of Egypt’s internal security forces. Maher is part of a new generation in the Middle East that, through blogs, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, and now Facebook, is using virtual reality to combat corrupt and oppressive governments. Their nascent, tech-fired rebellion has triggered a government backlash and captured the world’s attention.

We’ve seen Facebook playing a prominent role in the U.S. election as well, as noted in this CNN International article:

Sites like MySpace, Bebo and Facebook give people a tool to interact online and extend their social lives beyond working hours. But what’s interesting campaign managers is that they’ve been seized with such enthusiasm by increasingly hard-to-target teens and young adults — even Britain’s Prince Harry is rumored to have a Facebook account.

Wired has an article discussing how the financial crisis might effect the development of Web 2.0 technologies:

In a widely read essay, Jason Calacanis, the chief executive of Web directory Mahalo, predicted that as many as 80 percent of internet start-ups will “shut down or go on life-support” during the next year and a half. Furthermore, investor Ron Conway last week cautioned his portfolio of internet companies to cut their spending because venture capital was expected to become less readily available for awhile. Similarly, Sequoia Capital held a meeting with its portfolio companies last week, warning them to brace for lean time ahead.

Over at Cnet Rafe Needleman points out some companies that may be at risk (thanks kittenwalker). Can we at least get a government bailout for Twitter and Pandora?