DoD Still hasn't figured it out...

According to an article from FederalComputerWeek the DoD still hasn't come up with a social media policy. However, it is rumored that sometime this month they'll be meeting to make the final decisions. The article states that the DoD is recognizing six key points when writing up the policy:

• Sharing information “relentlessly” and securely.
• Keeping up with technological advances.
• Changing the existing model for information sharing.
• Recognizing that “the future has happened" and making full use of the technologies.
• Behaving like an enterprise.
• Doing everything possible to be transparent.

For the most part I agree with these six points. As I've said before, the military does need to come to terms with the fact that they are "behind the times". It'll be very important to embrace the technology of social media, because the younger generations of soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors will be using these technologies. 

While we need to embrace the good things about utilizing this technology, we can't ignore the fact that some young men and women may not use these advancements responsibly. There are safety/security issues to take into consideration, but if we're trusting these men and women at war, can't we learn to trust them on the internet? I don't think we'll have issues with people posting direct locations of where they're stationed, they're smart enough to keep that kind of information to themselves. If we can do a better job of explaining to them what is and isn't appropriate to talk about through social media (which we kind of already do but just in the case of e-mail and phone conversations) then I think they'll catch on, and in the long run just "know better". 

We have to express to everyone what the bigger picture is when using social media. The use of social media allows our troops to stay in contact with the world while deployed and overseas. We can't ignore the fact that they deserve the time to make those connections with friends and family. Using social media also allows our troops to keep their family and friends updated on their safety in a timely and effective manner. Instead of writing 20 letters to let everyone know your safe, it'd be much easier to get on Facebook or Twitter and update your status. 

Which Branch is Social Media Savvy?

So over the past week I decided to do some research in order to determine which branch most effectively uses the two most popular social media networks - Facebook and Twitter.

Let's start with Twitter. I've ranked them in the order of who I thought used Twitter most effectively.

1. Now let me start off by saying that this is by no means a biased opinion in regards to who came in first place. Although I'm an Army Brat I've ranked fairly as you'll see :) The Army's Twitter page has the most followers out of any branch with 15,474. I started counting tweets on the 18th of Sept. so here's a breakdown of the Army's tweet frequency:

Sept. 18th - 4; Sept. 19th - 0; Sept. 20th - 0; 21st - 4; Sept. 22nd - 2; Sept. 23rd - 4; Sept. 24th - 4; and Sept. 25th - 1 (as of 12:15 p.m.). The Army also had the most tweets over the course of the week with 19, however, as you can see there were two days where they had no tweets at all, which proves that no one's perfect. The Army page has a good variety of information, but the only critique I'd have in regards to what they're tweeting about is that they focus on this variety. There are some days where they focus on very mainstream issues, which with something like Obama giving out his first Medal of Honor is acceptable, otherwise though, they need to keep working on keeping things interesting. So I can't give them an A+, but I'll give them an A.

2. The Air Force has two twitters, one that is the official page and one that is the Air Force Public Affairs Agency page. Both pages are usually pretty similar in content, but the public affairs agency tweets more frequently then the official Air Force page. Here's a breakdown of the official Air Force tweet frequency:

Sept. 18th - 3; Sept. 19th - 1; Sept. 20 - 1; Sept. 21 - 1; Sept. 22nd - 2, Sept. 23rd - 1; Sept. 24th - 0; and Sept. 25th 2 (as of 12:15 p.m.). So over the course of a week the official Air Force page had 11 tweets, and besides the 24th, at least one tweet a day. Not too shabby. The official Air Force page comes in second place in regards to followers, with 5,754. I will say that the Air Force page probably had the widest variety of tweets, in the sense that they weren't always linking articles; they have a lot of video, picture, and audio links as well. Their tweets are also pieces of information that are a bit more personal, or not necessarily in the mainstream media, which is one of the main purposes of social media networking. People get on Twitter and Facebook to get direct, interesting, and unusual information that they cant get from every day mediums like newspapers and television broadcasts. So overall, I'd give the Air Force and A- on their Twitter usage.

3. In third place is the Marines. However, it might as well be a last place. The Marine Twitter page only has four post in TOTAL, with two of those posts being in the past week. The Marines have 3,510 followers. I was kind of shocked to see how little the Marines use their page, because they seem to be pretty on top of getting in touch with possible new recruits through heavy advertising. It just goes to show that "assuming makes an ass out of you and me". I'd have to give the Marine's a D+ on their Twitter usage, because while at least they have a Twitter page, and they have a good number of followers, you've gotta use the page once you've created it for it to be effective!

4. In last place is the Navy. The Navy doesn't even have a Twitter page! The Navy Blue Angels have a Twitter page, but there is no official Navy Twitter page. So as for the Navy, they obviously get an F, because they gave me nothing to work with. I will say that the Blue Angels have 294 followers, and over the course of the week had one Tweet, and before that had a tweet on the 15th. They seem to use their Twitter reasonably, and I would say they could improve, but hey, at least they have a Twitter which  is saying more than the Navy...

As something fun I also followed Adm. Mike Mullen's Twitter - the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mullen had one post over the course of the week, but in previous weeks is a pretty frequent user. It was nice to see that even some of the military's highest officials are starting to take advantage of these popular social media networks!

Now onto Facebook. Again, I've ranked them in the order of who used their Facebook pages most efficiently.

1. The Army page again comes in first place, having 58,245 fans and their most recent post within the last twenty-four hours. Please note that this is not the highest amount of fans, but the second highest, you'll be interested to see later who has the most amount of fans...The Army seems to be on their  Facebook more then any other branch, however, they need to do a better job of filtering fan posting. I think this could be improved by managing some discussion boards so that their wall posts aren't as loaded. There are also a lot of inappropriate posts from fans, which was my main concern in starting to focus on filtering what's posted. The Army's Facebook information seems to be pretty synched with their Twitter page, which is also key. Besides watching the wall posts I say keep up the good work, A-!

2. The Navy makes up for not having a Twitter page by coming in second place in the Facebook study. They have 26,800 fans, which is less than the Air Force, but they are much more active then the Air Force is, which is why I've ranked them second. They Navy also has a problem with tons of fan posts, it took me way too long to find a status update on their page. So I'd say the same thing here, think about starting up discussion boards so that conversations can be taken there and off the main wall posts. Grade - B.

3. The Air Force comes in third place, with 28,917 fans, which again is more then the Navy has, but the last status update was JUNE 12!!! This is just terrible! As active as the Air Force is on their Twitter page I was shocked to see how inactive they were on Facebook. This is an easy fix, all you've gotta do is start synching the information from Twitter with your Facebook status updates. But I mean really Air Force? Pick it up guys... Grade D.

4. In last place is the Marines. While they have the most fans with 91,470, they only have nine TOTAL status updates! So with two terrible ratings, I'd have to say I'm worried about the Marines understanding the importance and advantages of social networking. Also note from my last blog that the Marines have recently banned Twitter use from their official networks. Maybe when this new "balanced" social media policy comes out the Marines will start to think about becoming more active on the web... Grade - F.

Again I decided to follow someone fun on Facebook, and this time chose Gen. Ray Odierno - Multi-National Force, Iraq Commanding General. Gen. Odierno had a status update within the last twenty-four hours and five total status updates within the last week. Not too bad at all I say.

Hopefully you guys enjoyed this small study! It was very interesting to compare all the different pieces. Again, it seems the Army has the best understanding of how to properly take advantage of these popular social media networks. The other three branches should take some notes...

DoD Might Act Sensibly

Digital Video & Imagery Distribution System posted an article by Heather Forsgren Weaver today that stated the Department of Defense is looking at a more balanced social media policy.


Defense Department to Announce Balanced Social Media Policy



Price Floyd, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, states in the article that he wants to make sure that the policy doesn't "short-change" the dangers of social media networking. He explains that before when a soldier, airman, sailor, or Marine sent home a letter that may contain dangerous information only a few people read it. Now, anything they post online can be seen by millions of people, even those we might not reading these pieces of information. 


So far there aren't any policies that fit into all branches of the military, but there are many overlapping policies. The Marines have banned the use of Twitter from its official networks, but the Army allows these sites to be allowed from its official networks. Obviously we're in dire need of this policy that's supposed to come out in the next two weeks, we need to set a precedent for all the branches. 


I love that the article also points out that the OPSEC concerns are being blown out of proportion. In a 2006 study there were only 28 security violations in private blogs over the course of a year, but over 1,800 violations on of these same policies on official military sites! I really laughed out loud at this, not that OPSEC is a funny topic AT ALL, but I think this just proves that we have to learn to trust that our soldiers are responsible, and smart, enough not to post information online that could be dangerous to their well being. They're out there every day risking their lives to keep us safe, if they're capable of that, it's obvious they're capable of managing information on their blogs, Twitters and Facebooks. 


Like I've said before, it's such a great link to what's going on back home. While some commanders have shown concern that its a distraction, don't we need to give them some way to escape if even for a few minutes? I don't think that them being on the web is going to make them completely forget about where they are and what they're there to do, just give them a well deserved break at the end of the day. 


The article also points out a wonderful point that I've never thought of before - it tends to make reintegration easier. Honestly, if we can prove this point, what other reason do we need? If we can make such a difficult transition easier by something as simple as letting our soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines get on their blogs, Facebooks, and Twitters, why would we say no!? This alone makes me feel the need to jump up and down, waving my arms, screaming "COME ON DoD!!"


One last point Multi-National Force - Iraq Commanding General Ray Odierno has a Facebook page, need I say more?


I started a little experiment of my own before the weekend, which I'll blog about as soon as I compile all my data. I've been keeping track of how much each branch has used their social media networks over the past week, and I think you'll be interested to hear the results. :)

Meeting Recruitment Goals

Because of such high recruitment numbers, the Marine Corps will be changing its advertising campaign. Previously the commercials that aired were a bit more reserved, and highlighted the aspect of the honor of being a marine. However, the new set of ads that will air tomorrow will be, as an article in The New York Times stated, much more "in your face". The result in this high number of recruits? The poor state of the economy.


Here's a comparison of a commercial from 2008, and the commercial that will be aired tomorrow:


New Marine Commercial

2008 Marine Commercial

I think it's good that they show some of the more difficult aspects of being a marine. It's not easy to go into any branch of the military, but the training that a marine must go through has a reputation for being one of the toughest out there. And while they didn't completely focus on the honorable image of marines on the coast, it is still a part of the end of the commercial, and I appreciate that they tied the two campaigns together; especially since they had such a great success with the last ad campaign. 

Head of the Marine Corps Recruiting Command Maj. Gen. Robert E. Milstead Jr. stated that this campaign is a prequel to the previous one, because it shows what new recruits must go through in order to become a marine; how they are "transformed". Milstead said that because they have such a large number of recruits, they now feel they can be more selective in who they are recruiting. They want the best of the best, just as every other branch of the military does.

The article also states that all branches of the military have grown in numbers, to include the Army, which has also grown as a result of the economy falling farther into the red zone. The most promising thing for the Army being that we're seeing one of the largest surges in recruitment numbers since the beginning of the Iraq War.

I can only hope that these numbers keep growing. We need the support in this dire time, and if this new ad campaign helps bring in more recruits for the Marine Corps, then maybe the other branches should think about switching up their game plans too. Not that, like I said, we aren't currently getting a large number of recruits in, but maybe the Marines have a point: We now have the opportunity to be a bit more selective in who we're taking.

Here's a link to The New York Times article referenced: With Recruiting Goals Exceeded, Marines Toughen Their Ad Pitch

Stripping Away First Amendment Rights?

I was put into complete shock after reading an article in The New York Times titled: Pentagon Keeps Wary Watch as Troops Blog

It scares me to think that we would strip basic 1st Amendment rights from the men and women of our armed forces. I realize why the Department of Defense is concerned with the huge interest in blogging, as well as other social media outlets - security, OPSEC, etc. However, how else are our troops going to be able to relate to the citizens of the United States? How else will they tell their story while deployed? After eight years of sending these honorable people away, I think the least we can do for them is give them an outlet to express what they're going through. If we limit what they can do on government computers, how will those that cant afford to bring personal laptops on deployments be able to communicate with those of us back in the United States?

The government should be excited that the military is becoming familiar with these new aspects of social media. The military has always seemed to be outdated with communicating to civilians or anyone in general, and this could be the big break! If we can allow soldiers to post on their blogs, or their twitters, or their Facebooks, it gives other people a chance to empathize with them, and relate to them. We need to close the void between soldiers and civilians, and this could be a giant leap in that direction.

In one of my public relations classes today we discussed the fact that good public relations is not only emphasizing the good, but recognizing the bad. While the DOD might be concerned that allowing anyone to blog from a government computer could result in the public seeing some negative view points about the war, they must recognize that the public has the right to know about every feeling towards the war, not just the positive ones. If we don't allow the public the ability to hear about both sides of what soldiers are feeling, how are they to make an objective decision about their feelings towards the war?

The last thing I have to say in regards to the article, and this situation, is that if the military hopes to keep gaining new members each year, and keep the members it already has, each branch needs to be taking advantage of these new social media outlets to reach out to people. For too long has the military kept things secret, or encouraged that every soldier is strong and emotionless. We have a chance to give our troops a voice, lets not take that away from them. They deserve that and so much more.