According to the New York Times, the emerging field of sentiment analysis is translating the vagaries of human emotion into hard data. Thanks to the proliferation of blogs and social networks, there's a bull market in personal opinion, with reviews, ratings, recommendations and other forms of interaction. Online opinion can now make or break a product in the marketplace, and you can read more here.

NASA’s internal social network started out with users talking about the network. Then the chatter turned to questions scientists were seeking to answer. Holm, a Chief Knowledge Architect at NASA, said "the result was that 93% of the answers came from people who were in a different NASA center then the questioners - proof that the network was breaking down geographic barriers and unlocking potential." Read more.