By Jove, Parliament wants a blog!

The United Kingdom's House of Lords plans to question Parliament this week about whether social media and Web 2.0 technology will help the government improve its public image in the wake of a recent expense claim scandal. Popular opinion seems to be that although Parliament already has a Web presence, it's not particularly compelling or engaging. 

"The committee is to question Tom Watson, the digital engagement minister, on how the House of Lords can improve public understanding of Parliament's work and role, and how people would like to interact with it," says Computerweekly's Tony Collins.

At issue is whether or not social media tools will help the Lords "relate better to the public" and which specific technologies should be used to reach out. The House of Lords has its own Weblog aptly titled "Lords of the Blog" (who says Brits have no sense of humor?), but it's only an "experimental project" and "views expressed by the authors or ‘bloggers’ are their own and do not represent the views of the House of Lords." 

MP Watson is a bit more avant garde. In addition to a blog (where he throws around words like "ROFFLE" and "l33t hax0rs"), he also has a Twitter account where he muses about things like what to say to the Lordships when they meet.

While the U.S. Government is busy embracing practically every social networking tool out there, Parliament is taking a particlualrly conservative approach to social media so it will be interesting to see what happens next. That leaves us with one question: If Her Majesty The Queen gets a Facebook account, what will she write on the White House's wall?