Nick Jones, head of digital at 10 Downing Street and director interactive services at the soon-to-be-disbanded COI, said at an event last week that the government was still considering the question of how to deal with social media in times of crisis.

The topic came up while Jones addressed the audience at the launch of the shortlist for the British Interactive Media Association’s annual awards honouring the best of the digital media industry.

It seems that the official position of the government is that the technology of social platforms is neutral, but that handling it requires careful planning.

BIMA’s full award shortlist can be seen here, with 100 nominees in categories from Advertising to Use of Data, Mashups & Data-Visualisation. A record number of entries were received this year in its 26 categories, and the winners will be announced at an event wrapping up Internet Week Europe on 10 November at London nightclub Fabric.

At the same event, BIMA’s new exec committee was announced, extending the size of the board to 14 seats and with new members including recent #CommsChat guest Richard Baker, founder and managing director of Sequence.