Would you accept the Army as a friend'
It's the question the military is posing as the Army grows its presence online.
In January, DoD stood up the Online and Social Media Division to guide the Army's path into the growing virtual world, said Lt. Col. Kevin Arata of the division. A new Army policy governing access and use of social networking and new media sites is in the works.
Since the Army stood up the division in January, the unit has launched an official page on the popular social networking site Facebook while maintaining an existing presence on Web sites such as Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and other online portals.
In the Washington, D.C. region, installations have begun to establish online footprints. Aberdeen Proving Ground is moving to establish a presence online, said George Mercer, spokesman for the Maryland-based post.
Fort Belvoir has established an official presence on social networking sites with accounts on Facebook and Twitter that are linked so that messages posted to its Twitter account are fed into its Facebook page, said Don Carr, spokesman for the Virginia installation.
The advent of new online ways to engage the public may in fact end up changing traditional ways the military has spread command information, Carr said.
Aca,!A"I would hate to see the day when Army newspapers go away,Aca,!A? he said. Aca,!A"I think some form of a change will come. There will still be a Belvoir Eagle [Fort BelvoirAca,!a,,cs newspaper] but it will be all digital.Aca,!A?
Fort Meade, which is located near Hanover, Md., launched a presence on Twitter and Flickr this May. A Fort Meade Facebook page that was started in June is approaching 400 friends.
"It's all about two-way communication," said Bryan Spann, producer and director for Meade TV, Fort MeadeAca,!a,,cs online video blog. "We want to create as many connections among community members as we can. People should have a better idea of what is happening here and in turn, we should get a better feel for what they want through the social media program."
Still, some areas remain off-limits. Access to YouTube, for example, is blocked on Fort Meade, per Army regulations, said Terry Isbell, head of the installation's Directorate of Information Management.
The Army push comes as the military realizes that for many people, particularly younger ones, online platforms are important.
"Increasingly, it's becoming the way people get information," Arata said. "They just don't want to read a newspaper."
Online personal portals such as MySpace, Facebook and others have risen in popularity in recent years. Facebook, the No. 1 social network, is also the third most-visited Web site, according to information from the Web traffic analysis service Alexa.
Roughly 35 percent of all adults have a profile on a social networking site, a number that has more than quadrupled since 2005, according to a study released in January by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Among young people, the numbers are far higher. Roughly 75 percent of people between the ages of 18 to 25 and 54 percent of those between 25 and 34 have a profile on a social-networking Web site, according to the study.
The notion of having the Army as a friend stirred mixed emotions in some Fort Meade Soldiers.
Pfc. Kevin Buickel hoped an Army page on social networks could serve as a gathering place for Soldiers.
"It should offer us news of people back home," said Buickel who is studying equipment maintenance at the Defense Information School.
For fellow DINFOS Soldier Pfc. Augustine Saybee, the open nature of Facebook and the at-times sensitive work of the Army raised questions of what kind of conversation could exist.
"Facebook is universal. It isn't limited to military personnel. Something on there can be read by anybody," he said. "I would have to be very careful about what I say and do on their page."
At the same time the Army is bringing its message onto new platforms, traditional concepts of protecting knowledge of ongoing military work, known as operation security, are adapting to new electronic realms, Arata said.
"The letter home we used to get during Vietnam or World War II, it was only going from you to your family," he said. "Now when you share it on a blog you're not just sharing it [with one person]. It's got access to millions of other people."
But while the Army is concerned about sensitive information leaking online, the military isn't looking to gag Soldiers, Arata said.
More often than not, when someone posts something online that is questionable or perhaps confidential, it is someone they know who spots it and informs the individual who posted it or the chain of command that the material shouldn't be online.
Still, for Soldiers such as Pfc. Nick Chestnut of Fort Meade's Headquarters and Headquarters Company, the idea of the Army and online social portals such as Facebook conjures somewhat negative connotations.
"I've only heard about it in a negative way [such as] people being out there and getting in trouble," Chestnut said.
But the Army's concern over what Soldiers post online isn't simply because loose lips or texts sink ships, it's also because such actions can pose risks for service members in their civilian lives and for their families.
Posts saying a Soldier is deployed or away from home could be read by criminals, creating danger not only for a service member's belongings, but also the family, Arata said.
Service members should receive briefings on operation security when arriving at a new station as well as annual briefings, Arata said.
"Soldiers are well-schooled in what they can and can't do" he said. "Most of this is common sense."
While Soldiers are briefed on confidentiality, for the past 18 months, the Army has been working on a program to educate the families of deployed or deploying Soldiers on operation security, Arata said.
The program, which is being finalized, would be given to SoldiersAca,!a,,c dependents at pre-deployment briefings and would cover issues such as posting knowledge of a SoldierAca,!a,,cs or unitAca,!a,,cs expected return time.
For youngsters, the planned campaign would include a Web site with games and coloring books.
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