In addition to having a nice beard, Justin Herman runs social media at the U.S. General Services Administration’s Center for Excellence in Digital Government. This moniker may read as a joke to cynics, but Herman, like Booker, clearly believes that a more engaged government is a more effective and efficient government–and that politicians and administrators are mistaken if they see Twitter and Facebook as mere “announcement platform[s].”

Sound familiar?

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

No, really: Booker, who remains one of the world’s most popular politicians on Twitter, wasn’t suggesting that the South by Southwest attendees who gathered to hear him speak should produce reality TV shows or promote smartphones. But he did credit Kutcher with bringing him into the social media fold by introducing him to the land of 140 characters–and he implied that the most successful political leaders of the future will be those who follow him headfirst into the digital maelstrom by interacting with real-life people rather than just posting press statements and linking to complimentary op-eds.

See, it’s one thing for an elected representative to have an official account–they pretty much all do at this point. But Booker’s social voice is closer to that of, say, an “influencer” like Richard Branson than Vice President Joe Biden, whose feed consists of fairly rote announcements created by administration communications staffers.

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Anderson Cooper

“I still consider myself a reserved person and I hope this doesn’t mean an end to a small amount of personal space. But I do think visibility is important, more important than preserving my reporter’s shield of privacy,” Cooper writes at the end of his comments.

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Aasif Mandvi, host of this year's Shorty Awards

What a difference a year makes. Last year the Shorty Awards — dedicated to honoring the best producers of short, real-time content — had CNN anchor Rick Sanchez as host. This year, Sanchez is long gone from CNN, and in his place was Aasif Mandvi of the Daily Show.

The significance wasn’t lost on Mandvi, as the Daily Show was right in the middle of things when Sanchez was dismissed from CNN last fall. “You all must really hate Rick Sanchez,” Mandvi joked, insinuating it was a slap in the face for Sanchez to have someone  from the Daily Show hosting.

Mandvi also poked a bit of fun at the awards themselves, as he joked that they are “the most relevant awards show ever,” and said, “Let me be honest. I’m only here to increase my Twitter followers.”

That being said, in their third year, the Shorty Awards have only gotten bigger (and longer).

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Can you get enough of him? We can’t.

We’re talking about Newark Mayor Cory Booker. With snow falling again in the tri-state area, it would be helpful for some local pols (Mayor Bloomberg, Gov. Christie) to take a lesson from Mayor Booker, who was out in the streets during the big blizzard a couple of weeks ago helping the people.

He went on The Weather Channel program Wake Up With Al yesterday to talk about the big lesson from the blizzard — the importance of communications. According to the Mayor, vendors and council members felt comms was lacking. But the Mayor’s use of Twitter was obviously a plus for some Newarkians and for the Mayor’s image.

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Mayor Booker helping stuck Newark drivers. Photo: Dominique Wilson

Once again proving its utility for just about any situation, social media is coming to the rescue of snowbound Northeasterners.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, an avid tweeter, has been using the social networking site to find out which of his constituents need help digging out after the big storm (although some of those constituents aren’t grateful for the help).

And The Atlantic reports that Ushahidi, a nonprofit tech company that provides interactive mapping that has been used during relief efforts in Haiti and other international locations, is being deployed in Boston and New York to let people know that there is equipment available to combat the snow.

And, of course, social media is a good place to vent. Matthew Bishop, the New York bureau chief for The Economist took to Twitter about his struggles gathering his luggage after his plane landed, MSNBC.com said. “After 2 hrs in security, only 4 staff with 500+ passengers, luggage is still on the plane! But its good to be back!” he wrote.

[Image via NY Daily News.]

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Ever since news hit that Facebook‘s Mark Zuckerberg would be donating $100 million to the Newark school system, the chatter about how Zuckerberg’s image would benefit has been deafening. Technorati wrote last week that Facebook PR had kicked into high gear with the upcoming premiere of The Social Network. EWeek wrote also about the timing of the announcement given the new film. And Mashable noted that the donation could be an effort to counteract Zuckerberg’s appearance on the Forbes 400.

Whatever the PR implications for Zuckerberg, it’s nice to know that the publicity surrounding the announcement is actually doing good for the Newark school system.

Mayor Cory Booker announced today that he’d secured $40 million of the total needed to match the $100 million grant. Mayor Booker, New Jersey State Governor Chris Christie, and Zuckerberg were meant to appear on NBC today to talk further, but the interview was interrupted by the weather.

“I am so grateful that so many are stepping forward after Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement to answer our call to action and share our commitment in the limitless potential of Newark’s students,” Mayor Booker said  in an e-mail.

Pershing Square Capital Management has pledged $25 million to the matching gift.

[Image: Saed Hindash, The Star-Ledger]

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