I've noticed that the inside covers of those APs which I've bought most recently (Legacy of Fire and Carrion Crown) seem to contain a lot of "local colour"/information. How are GMs supposed to use this information?
Is it for Gather Information/Diplomacy or Knowledge checks? Are they local colour stories which "everyone knows" (or at least, everyone who is local to the area in question) and so could be used as player hand-outs? Are they for GMs to use as plot seeds if they need to give their party more XP? Or red herrings if the investigation needs to be dragged out for some reason? Or is there some other purpose for them?
In order:
See below.
Sure.
Sort of (more likely), sure.
Sure.
Sure.
Sure.
Basically, humor aside, they are there for you to use however you see fit.
The ones in Kingmaker are actual quests, but most of them exist, I think, to create an intricate, detailed world, there for you to use at your discretion. I know my Serpent Skull people still talk about one creepy bit of flavor text I used, even though it had nothing to do with the campaign, just because I used one of the side things vividly enough.
So, to reiterate the short version: they are to be used entirely at your discretion for your purposes. It's a nice, useful tool that allows you to describe things through checks, local sages (and/or NPC knowledge) or just toevoke imagery and wonder. And occasionally quests. :)
At least, that's how weuse 'em.
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I have four players. So, leading up to the start of my Carrion Crown campaign, I sent each of them a different knowledge piece from each book for six days before the game's launch date. I picked what seemed to be of most interest based on character history and just let them know it was info "they had picked up or heard somewhere".
I'll let them run with them as they see fit. So far, folks have used the knowkldge to pepper their conversations with each other and NPCs to add to the flavor. It's worked great so far.
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Pretty much like the other guys are saying, feel free to use these however you want. It's important to us that the inside covers of Pathfinder aren't just a dumping ground for charts, maps, and cut text. We want these to look nice, so we try to mix things up from AP to AP (as needs, time, and layouts allow) to make sure that as soon as you open these books you're hit with a flavorful piece of art and a thematic bit of story. If you use it in your game, fantastic, but even if you just read it and get into the mood, mission accomplished.