Parliament Hill embracing social media

Social media is coming of age on Parliament Hill, with a prime minister who's had his own YouTube town hall meeting, where highlights of the federal budget were Tweeted and where more than one in five decision makers consider the new medium a top priority. That number, reported in a survey this week by SAS software services and Leger Marketing, shows government endorsement of all things Facebook surpasses by a wide margin the 14% of business leaders who feel the same way. It is a sign not just of politicians embracing new technologies but also of civil servants realizing its data-gathering potential, analysts say.