Imagine someone you love has been taken by a foreign, hostile government.  Where do you turn?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the families of Laura Ling and Euna Lee went online.  There they found a committed, vocal and galvanized group of people who shared their goal of bringing their loved ones home from captivity in North Korea.  When you love someone, the why’s and how’s fade pretty quick.  Your overriding concern is simply getting them home safe. 

I speak from experience: Laura is my friend’s little sister.

There was an initial round of shocked emails as friends heard the news.  We know Laura as a level-headed, committed journalist, a woman who cared a great deal about exposing injustice and doing what she could to make the world a better place.

The women’s plight was aided a great deal by Laura’s older sister, Lisa Ling, a reporter for National Geographic and Oprah. Lisa is savvy as they come, and grasped quickly how the media could help raise awareness. The families hit the talk show and news circuit, pleading for their loved ones’ release.

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While we’re on the topic of celebrity Twitterers, I’d like to single out one of my faves: Dave Navarro (@davenavarro6767).

Shaq (@THE_REAL_SHAQ - yeah, the caps are forgiveable in his case) holds a place in my heart as Fave Celeb on Twitter, but Dave has a few things going for him: he’s the guitarist in one of my all time favorite bands, Jane’s Addiction; his Tweets are pretty entertaining and - perhaps most importantly -  he has a penchant for featuring what looks to be a Barbie in all kinds of compromising Twitpics.

Barbie getting up close and personal with a guitar?  Check.  Barbie bent over a toilet after a big night? Check.  He cares about his girl’s safety and makes her wear her seatbelt (I know, I’ve seen the Twitpic).

Dave posts photos of what’s “now playing” on his car stereo, his breakfast dates, and dentist appointments.  He must be doing something right: I look forward to the banalities of his life as if he were a friend…plus, he never fails to crack me up.  You have to check it out.

Be sure to catch Dave and Jane’s Addiction with one of my other all time favorites on the road this Spring/Summer. It’s the Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s tour aka NIN/JA. (And while we’re on the topic, Trent Reznor @trent_reznor is a damn fine social media maverick, too - have you seen his cool new iPhone app?)

While social media is busy transforming the way we lead our lives, it’s also a game changer in the world of politics. It’s never been easier for politicians to communicate directly with their electorate, on the cheap, totally free-from-traditional-media filters.

Barack “you’ll-pry-this-Blackberry-from-my-cold-dead-fingers” Obama’s campaign is Exhibit A: from Facebook– to YouTube– MyBarackObama.com to Twitter, our President owned the social media space (if you haven’t yet, check out this great Fast Company story about Chris Hughes, the campaign’s online “Boy Wonder”).

And Barack Obama still owns the space. When was the last time anyone got excited about a new administration’s White House website… or sparked controversy when it debuted? Yeah, it’s a brave new political world.

The good news for citizens is that this social media revolution is a two way street. Our government is transparent – and accountable – in ways it never was before. There are easy ways to connect with our presidential administration (here’s 10), many elected officials are accessible via Facebook and other avenues, and bowing to constituent pressure many city/state/federal agencies are throwing open their electronic doors in the spirit of transparency. Heck, even California’s Governator is Tweeting.

Not only can we talk more easily to our “reps” (or, hey, their people), we voters can easily arm ourselves with the latest breaking news and heavy-duty research…you know, the stuff that used to be the exclusive domain of politicians/legislators only.

Take Policy Archive: a massive repository for academic and policy research, fueled by submissions from think tanks like The Cato Institute, The Center for American Progress, and The Heritage Foundation. This database, owned by the Center for Governmental Studies, aims to be the largest of its kind. Not only does it puts amazing, top-level research a couple mouse clicks away from students and researchers…it’s a platform available to Joe Six Pack (and, hey, they Twitter (@policyarchive)!).

One of their featured areas? Analysis and policy recommendations for the Obama administration, from across the political spectrum. We can only imagine Obama is reading…you know, on his Blackberry.

(Full disclosure: CGS is a client. But that hasn’t stopped us from being pretty amazed at the sheer volume of PolicyArchive; pretty sure I’m not the only team member getting sucked into the latest/greatest research on current issues.)