One of the favorite lines and slogans I have heard for campaigns has been “Be all you can be” from the United States Army. It has been interesting to see how the military has evolved in its adaptation and use of social media in terms of managing the lines of communication with their external (ex. family members, community members, future cadets, media, etc) and internal audiences (ex. current soldiers, military personnel, etc). When social media became an emerging technology, some of the military branches had strict guidelines on what their soldiers and others could and could not do on it.
United States Military and Social Media
However, the US Army has recently been discussed in the mainstream media on how they are using social media to reshape military life for not only their soldiers,but other stakeholders who are invested in what they are up to as a military branch. The social media page for the US Army is very impressive – they are highly active on Facebook for each of their divisions and branches, as well as on Twitter. In addition, they have a strong presence on other social media sites like Delicious (social bookmarking site), Flickr (photosharing site), YouTube, and other niche community sites specifically associated for the military.
One of the reasons that was given to having a more interactive and engaging role on these social media sites is to proactively claim and manage your own space online. In other words, the US Army is taking a proactive approach in providing information and educating their soldiers on how to manage their reputation online. The only thing that I thought would have been interesting would have seen any links or best practices for mobile applications used by the military (ex. iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, etc) as well as their thoughts on Facebook Places, Gowalla, and Foursquare – where it allows people to give out their location.
In summary, I believe that the US Army is not only being innovative in sharing their knowledge and experience with managing online reputation with their stakeholders, but they are also creating an engaging and interactive online community with their stakeholders by being active with social media. This is going to allow people to feel a connection with the military branch, as well as being informed and forming these long-term relationships with not only the Army, but also with others in the community.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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