Social media has become an important tool in the lives of both civilians and military personnel. With how prevalent social media has become in our daily lives, it’s easy to see why the military utilizes it as well. Unlike you would expect from many civilians, in addition to maintaining their blogs, Twitter accounts and Facebook sites, the different branches also use the social media for strategic and tactical reasons. One strategy the military has enacted is using social media to limit threats and for pro-American propaganda. By creating fake personas on social media sites, the military gains the ability to influence online conversations, spread the pro-American sentiments and keep tabs on potential threats. While this may not be the ideal method, and some may object to spying under false pretenses, it is an inexpensive way for the military to get information. On the downside, if one of the false personas were compromised, it could backfire and become a bigger threat that the military has to handle.
Moving on from the fake personas and into a more general realm is taking a look at the different types of social media which the military uses. Most of the branches of the military have their own blogs and Twitter accounts which they utilize. One difference, aside from the content that is posted on each, is that the Marines seems to be the only branch that does not have its own blog for the branch as a whole, but instead some of the different divisions have created their own blogs. It’s interesting to see the different content displayed on the sites. If you take a look at Army Live, the official blog of the U.S. Army, there is even a section dedicated to social media.
There is more to military communications then spying or connecting with loved ones. The official blogs, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages allow for information to be shared and allows for a new medium which was once unavailable. Still, it’s interesting to see what is shared. Check out this Tweet by the Department of Defense and the article that follows to get more insight on a few ways that the military shares their information about how to safely use social media:
@DeptofDefense Hey #bloggers – the WH report on #military families is on #slideshare to embed in your #blogs! http://slidesha.re/g04cDR @milblogging #sot
First, I must say that I love the picture that you posted with the twitter army bird! I found this post very informative. I never imagined that the military would utilize social media sites via fake personas. In my opinion, the fact that the military uses SMS in order to “influence online conversations, spread pro-American sentiments and keep tabs on potential threats” is an excellent idea/strategy. In an era of cyber terrorism, the fact that social media sites are now being used to protect our country makes me appreciate the value that it brings to our nation and us as a people. While I must admit that the usage of fake personas is a bit misleading and creepy, I’m willing to live with it for the sake of our country’s protection. The ability to obtain and share information is critical for the military and if they need to snoop and spy under aliases to do so than so be it!!!
ReplyDeleteChris - I had the same thoughts you did at first, but as I thought about it, I realized that I would much rather have the "fake personas" of the miltary influencing potential terrorists early or maybe even learning their plans, then for nothing to be done and that result in another attack. Either way, its something that I didn't expect to find, but definately thought it was noteworthy.
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