The cover story for the May/June 2011 issue of ONLINE is all about digital transparency and the valuations of social media companies. Authors Enrique Bonson and Francisco Flores wrote the article before LinkedIn’s (LNKD) IPO this week, so had only one public company, XING, to evaluate for a true market valuation. LinkedIn surprised everybody with the heady valuation placed on it by the market. It had a 109% gain in just the first day of trading and is valued, as of this morning, at $10 billion. Bonson and Flores used an article from Reuters dated January 6, 2011 for their $2.2 billion valuation.

That’s a pretty amazing difference, but supports the gist of the article, that digital transparency is hard to ascertain before companies go public. It also makes many people wonder whether the LinkedIn valuation is a sign of a new dot-com bubble.

I caught part of today’s Diane Rehm show on the car radio while driving to the post office (surprisingly, not too many people there in line to buy one-cent stamps). The topic was social networking, which made me wish I’d heard the entire show. But, of course, I can listen to it at the website. Here’s the official description:

Social Networking — Facebook and Linked-in are two of the most popular on-line social networks, but there are now millions of others catering to all ages and a myriad of interests. A look at the growing appeal of on-line social networks and their value to members in the profit and not-for-profit worlds.

The guests were: Gina Bianchini, co-founder, Ning; Andy Carvin, senior product manager, NPR Community, NPR Digital Media; Josh Bernoff, vp, principal analyst, Forrester Research; Manuel Hernandez, president,Diabetes Hand Foundation www.tudiabetes.com, and Amy Worley, Director of Digital Marketing, H&R Block, Digital Tax Solutions.

I did chuckle when Andy Carvin talked about using Twitter to announce that a guest for an NPR program had cancelled and ask for suggestions for a replacement. During CIL 2007, it was the obverse. The Tuesday morning keynote speaker couldn’t make it, so Andy filled in — and Twittered the experience. On  today’s radio show, he also talked about how NPR is using Twitter to broadcast news. Very creative, NPR!