October 27th.  I don’t see a full moon, but apparently leading up to Halloween, we got some weird social media news.

The first came from a US Army report that terrorists could theoretically use Twitter.  There is some great alliteration in that sentence.  Search Marketing Gurus (SMG) report: According a a report by the Agence France-Presse news agency, the 304th Military Intelligence Battalion contains a chapter entitled “Potential for Terrorist Use of Twitter,” which expresses concern over the increasing use of Twitter by political and religious groups.

I personally think terrorists have better things to do than take the time to find enough followers to spread their messages.  Though I love Twitter as a marketing and communications tool, I really don’t think it would be a useful tool for these groups.  I agree with SMG that users of the service will be able to spot such activity and will self police.  I think the Army can go back to worrying about other things.  I do recommend the SMG post for reading though.  Great cartoon as well.

The second bit of news comes from Reuters.  Apparently, we misread the passage that the meek will inherit the Earth and it is actually the geeks.  A recent study found that the Internet is rewiring our brains and those that combine tech savvy with social skills will be the new ruling class.  See I told you this social networking thing was effective.  I just didn’t know that it go Frankenstein on us.  Here is an excerpt from the Reuters article (The NY office was also evacuated today due to a suspicious substance - I don’t thing they used Twitter to send it):

The Internet is not just changing the way people live but altering the way our brains work with a neuroscientist arguing this is an evolutionary change which will put the tech-savvy at the top of the new social order.

Gary Small, a neuroscientist at UCLA in California who specializes in brain function, has found through studies that Internet searching and text messaging has made brains more adept at filtering information and making snap decisions.

But while technology can accelerate learning and boost creativity it can have drawbacks as it can create Internet addicts whose only friends are virtual and has sparked a dramatic rise in Attention Deficit Disorder diagnoses.

Small, however, argues that the people who will come out on top in the next generation will be those with a mixture of technological and social skills.

“We’re seeing an evolutionary change. The people in the next generation who are really going to have the edge are the ones who master the technological skills and also face-to-face skills,” Small told Reuters in a telephone interview.

To go along with our scary themes this week - Blogging is reported as dead.  We will look at that tomorrow.