One of my students at Georgetown, Paul Bove, works with the Air Force. The Air Force Public Affairs Agency just published their New Media and The Air Force brochure, a guide to provide professionals with the knowledge they need to work online.
It’s really an outstanding thorough guide, and a demonstration of how far mainstream America has come with social media. In the introduction the guide says, “If the Air Force does not tell it’s own story, someone else will.” And so it begins, a true understanding of the subculture of opinion that social media provides Americans.
This is perhaps the most telling sentence in the brochure:
It is up to the Public Affairs professionals at each level to teach and enforce Air Force new media policy, by training and educating every Airman on the proper use and techniques for engaging in new media.
Wow. If that’s not an acknowledgement of how pervasive social media is, I don’t know what it is. The Air Force is in essence saying (and as Paul told me), “Every Airman is a Communicator.”
It’s great to see a military organization as large as the Air Force understands how bottom up social media really is. And they take their mission seriously, “Airmen, by the nature of the business are always on the record and must always represent the core values, even on the Web.” But it’s not complete authoritarianism: “the Air Force respects the rights of Airmen to use [web sites and blogs] as a medium of self expression.”
I like the balance between mission and people there. The general primer goes all the way back to O’Reilly Media’s declaration of Web 2.0., and then proceeds to basic social network definitions and best practices (No impersonations!).
And what would a great social media policy be without a measurement section to appease KD Paine. “Define measurement benchmarks through detailed and achievable qualitative and quantitative metrics…”
All in all the 28 page document and video demonstrate a great savviness. I’m impressed. The Air Force is leading the U.S. military and most branches of the government into the social web.
It’s really heartening to find out that a major branch of the US military is at the leading edge of communication. This example has put MORE faith in me than any of the overt initiatives that Obama and his staff are putting through. Why? Communication is integral to disseminating your way of doing things, which in turn affects how you do things. This becomes a feedback loop. This idea is brilliantly visualized in The Air Force’s brochure with arrows going between traditional media & the new internet media.
Thank you Geoff, for restoring faith in my country’s ability to adapt regardless of traditions.
A couple of months ago I found the Air Force flow chart for when/how to respond to blog posts — really well done. I’ve used it in several presentations as an example of setting up company guidelines for listening and responding.
Being based in Sacramento, I find myself talking with government employees quite a bit about social media, and their most common response is “Oh, we could never do that.” The USAF examples, along with the new White House web site (specifically to show Creative Commons) seem to be really get across that “IT”S OK.”
Clearly this is a new day in Washington. With the President’s Transparency and Open Government memo directing agencies to engage citizens using social web tools, I think we’re going to see a lot more of this. The “subculture of opinion” championing the power of the social web, is no longer a subculture.
Geoff,
I met the face behind the AF’s efforts. He’s a sharp young captain who’s really on the ball. He has the support of his senior leaders and many of those same leaders are developing blogs on DoDLive.Mil, which is based on WordPress, but behind the Pentagon’s “firewall.” They are blogs open to anyone, but protected from hacking.
Your student and Capt “F” at the HQ Air Force are gleaming examples of empowered individuals running with the ball to make a huge impact.
(Today, I am commenting on behalf of the Army & Air Force Exchange Service-AAFES.)
It is refreshing to see the military at the forefront of new media execution. There are many of us who have been chomping at the bit for years to have the freedom to express the power of the military community. There is no higher truth than “information is power.” The milblogging community knows this. From the battlefield to the homefront, the military community online is tight knit and passionate. It is time to open the online flood gates!
Great post Geoff! The military has a long tradition of innovative communication strategy (as well as a long history of communication blunders).
Here’s a link to instructional comic books the Army started commissioning from comics master Will Eisner:
http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2008/04/will-eisners-preventative-maintenance.html
Is the brochure only available to members of the Air Force or can civilians/private corporations obtain a copy for reference? If available, how do I get one?
Just as “Every airman is a communicator” I’ve been reminding both my employees and my clients of the WOM opportunity that begins with those employees – and how they need guidance. I hope we do all get a deeper peek into the AF’s guides.
Thanks to everyone for your words of encouragement on what we’re trying to accomplish at the Air Force (and hopefully within DoD and government in general). We still have a lot of challenges in gaining access to some of the social media Websites, but we’re using various workarounds with decent results. From our perspective, we truly do want each airman to be a communicator–it’s not just lip service. The Captain and I can tell stories and regurgitate news, but the best material comes from the Airmen who have a different perspective. And I’d rather hear from them than myself any day :)
For those who asked, we just got a pdf of the guide book from the printer today. The book is for everyone, not just Air Force. I can include a link here once we post it to a public Website in the next day or so.
I am really heartened to hear such positive attitudes being reinforced in the US Airforce. I only hope that our public sector officials in the UK take notice and follow suit.
Well done to all involved.
Wonderful post. It’s great to see the military breaking down silos and allowing individuals to speak. Please share the pdf.
We love being able to connect with real people and answer real questions. The work Capt. “F” , from Mr. Bove’s post, and others at AFPAA (Air Force Public Affairs Agency) do has given us a great opportunity we haven’ t had before. Our traditional media outlets can’t always cover our stories about the things Airmen are doing. Using social media makes it possible to really tell the Air Force story, one unit and one Airman at a time.
Looking forward to checking out the entire piece once the link to the PDF is made available.
I just wanted to let everyone know that the Air Force New Media guide is online and available for download. I also posted the new media video on Air Force BlueTube. Please visit http://airforcelive.dodlive.mil/2009/04/10/air-force-new-media-guide-and-video-available-online/ for links.
Geoff, thanks for getting our message out there (and congrats!)
Paul