VICENZA, Italy - The buzz around the U.S. military these days is about new U.S. Army initiatives in Africa.
To feed that need for current information, U.S. Army Africa launched its new web-based social media center - a one-stop resource for sharing news, photos and videos featuring Soldiers partnering with African nations.
"People around the globe now have a breakthrough Internet resource for U.S. Army activities on the African continent," said Maj. Gen. William B. Garrett III, commander of U.S. Army Africa. "We're looking forward to showcasing the hard work our Soldiers are putting into military partnerships with African nations."
U.S. Army's Southern European Task Force recently transformed into the Army component to U.S. Africa Command. Now, U.S. Army Africa now oversees all U.S. Army activities on the continent. The command's goal is to take part in cooperative efforts that increase African partner nations' security capabilities to foster better security, stability and peace on the continent.
The website launch is synched with Natural Fire 10, a multi-national exercise held this October in Uganda that includes five East Africa Partner countries.
For military and civilians alike, there is a wealth of information on the new USARAF site, to include recommended readings, news and photo archives, maps, newcomer information and biographies of senior leaders.
U.S. Army Africa's website also links to the Vicenza military community and its garrison newspaper, "The Outlook," offering local information for Soldiers and civilians assigned to U.S. Army Africa headquarters.
A prominent feature is the social networking section that links viewers to sites such as Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, and CNN's iReport, said Ed Johnson, a U.S. Army Africa public affairs specialist who helped create the new social media center.
Social networking has become the most popular way for people to obtain news and information online, Johnson said.
Visitors to the site are also encouraged leave feedback, rate articles, and participate in the site's online surveys.
"This truly revolutionizes the way we share information and interact with our community, newcomers and the world," Johnson said. "Now, for the first time, the global community has instant access to U.S. Army updates from the African continent - whenever and wherever they want it."
The U.S. Army Africa website and social media center tools are available online at: www.usaraf.army.mil.
Other U.S. Army Africa social media sites include:
Facebook: According to its own mission statement, Facebook was designed to give people and organizations the power to share information, photos and links with friends and other members of the Facebook community.
Twitter: As a real-time messaging service, Twitter allows users to post short messages and updates.
Flickr: Primarily used to share and archive user-generated photos. Flickr also provides some video upload capabilities, as well as several tools for sharing, printing and downloading digital imagery.
YouTube: Founded in 2005, YouTube is a leader in online video distribution. YouTube allows people to upload and share video clips. For most users, content is limited to 10 minutes in length and 2 GB in size.
Vimeo: Created by filmmakers and video creators, Vimeo allows users to share and download HD quality, full-length video content.
Scribd: As one of the largest social publishing companies in the world, Scribd is a website where millions of people share and publish documents.
Social Sharing