George Orwell wouldn’t have a tough time seeing Big Brother’s influence in Chavez’s Venezuela. Last year, Chavez took a page from 1984 and decreed that anyone who twitters is a traitor guilty of “Media Crimes.” Nevertheless, unlike RCTV, Venezuela’s oldest and largest TV station which Chavez pulled the plug on last month, Twitter doesn’t have physical offices that can be closed down.  While Chavez has threatened to block Twitter by forcing everyone to get their Internet through state-owned ISPs, he has yet to do so.  Even still, there are always backdoors that twitterers and bloggers can exploit to get their messages out; just look at how quickly the Iranian protesters found a workaround last year after the Iranian authorities blocked their ISPs.

What makes Twitter such a threat to repressive regimes? There have been conflicting reports over Twitter’s actual effectiveness in Iran, but Twitter’s non-corporality is really what frightens enemies of free speech – Twitter makes it harder to identify your enemies. The authorities would have to confiscate every PDA, smartphone, and laptop to see who is tweeting or blogging and what they are writing about. In the minds of the repressive state, enemies are everywhere and anywhere.

However, Venezuela’s social media users have been anything but intimidated. Facebook’s anti-Chavez group, “Chavez esta PONCHAO!” (Chavez you’ve struck out!), has more than 233,000 fans. Several Twitter hash tags have also popped up: #Venezuela, #Estudiantes, #FreeVenezuela, #FreeMediaVE.  Hugo has decided to combat the growing citizen’s army of bloggers and twitterers by employing his own bloggers and twitterers. According to Venezuelan journalist Nelson Bocaranda, Chavez has assembled an “internet army” of online fifth columnists.

How the Latin American Twitter resistance to Chavez develops remains to be seen, but it is certainly worth monitoring. Considering that the regimes in Bolivia and Ecuador echo many of Chavez’ excesses against freedom of speech, it is possible that citizens in those countries will start mirroring the Venezuelan opposition’s online resistance.

STRATSOC: How is your command using the social web today? Are there any notable successes to date?

CAPT Buclatin: Since last February, my Public Affairs team has leveraged a wide variety of off-the-shelf Social Media web sites and tools to conduct two-way conversations directly with our cyber audiences in Europe and back home in the U.S.  We’ve established presence on popular sites, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, established our own “EUCOMversations” blog, and utilized the robust multimedia capabilities of SmugMug to host our photos and videos.

We have two events that I consider noteworthy.  The first was our live coverage of the 65th Anniversary of D-Day in Normandy.  We created a very professional “homemade” Web site with archived photos, videos and stories.  We also harnessed the real-time power of Twitter to “tweet” stories from the ground as they unfolded on June 6th and coupled the hundreds of D-Day tweets with the live video broadcast from the Pentagon Channel on our Web site.  FYI, the D-Day 65th made the top Twitter Trending Topics list that day, an indicator to us that our activities didn’t go unnoticed.

The second significant event was our recent change of command when Adm. Stavridis took the helm of EUCOM as the first Navy officer to lead the headquarters.  His taking command is significant, because the Admiral is a pioneer in the use of Social Media at the four-star level (he manages his own Twitter and Facebook accounts) and upon taking command, established his own weekly “From the Bridge” blog.  The Admiral’s use of Social Media and our headquarters’ established presence and use of Web 2.0 is a perfect match—it doesn’t get any better than this!

STRATSOC: Do you have a social media strategy? If not, how do you decide what capabilities and concepts to employ on the social web?

CAPT Buclatin: When we rolled out our new www.EUCOM.mil public Web site and presence on various networking sites six month ago, I have to admit, we literally dove into Social Media head first without a strategy, but had a clear vision of connecting with our audiences and establishing two-way conversation with them on the Web.  Until recently, the members of our small Social Media think tank (consisting of a couple of Social Media natives, a Web developer, an IT person and myself) determined the best sites to engage and tools to employ.  It’s a bit of a band-aid approach to a Social Media strategy, but has worked well for us so far.  We are now developing a strategy which we hope to roll-out within the next several weeks.

STRATSOC: Have you experienced any challenges engaging in social media?

CAPT Buclatin: Yes.  I’d have to say that the biggest challenges we’ve faced are:  access to Social Media on government computer systems and establishing metrics to measure our effectiveness in this new medium.  Both issues continue to be a “work in progress” for us, as we try to continue to move our Social Media ball down the field.

STRATSOC: What could other commands learn from your use of social media?

CAPT Buclatin: Actually, the question should be, “What commands have we learned from?”  I must give credit to U.S. Southern Command Public Affairs who truly was the first combatant command to implement a wide array of Social Media tools, then under Adm. Stavridis’ leadership, and U.S. Air Force Public Affairs who was the first service to implement Social Media as a core competency.  Today, all of the major commands are learning from each other through collaboration, one of the key principles of Social Media.

STRATSOC: Are there any big plans or unique concepts you plan to employ in the future?

CAPT Buclatin: Yes and yes; however, I don’t know what they are yet.  We’ve institutionalized a culture of “disruptive innovation” where we will constantly innovate, experiment and implement our presence on the Web, as better processes and tools are introduced to the market place.  All I can say is that our use of Social Media will always be in a state of flux—we will always be on the move working to make improvements every day.

If anyone is interested in learning more about the EUCOM team, I urge you to check out their social media friendly Web site here at EUCOM.mil. CAPT Buclatin can be followed on Twitter  @US_EUCOM as can Adm. Stavridis (@stavridisj).

We firmly stand by this assertion, however, I’d like to further clarify this and say that countering complex threats, enhancing interagency cooperation and engaging both the American people and those around the world will not be solved by embracing social networking tools alone. A 20% increase in followers on Twitter or adding a thousand friends on FaceBook does not necessarily mean enhanced prospects for mission success. Rather, it will be what we define as an Enterprise based approach to running our nation’s defense, diplomatic and intelligence agencies. Thus, Picks (FaceBook) and Shovels (Twitter) are not a strategy.

Web 2.0 has for the most part left those in the Department of Defense, State Department and the Intelligence agencies far behind the curve due to concerns around Information Assurance and Operational security (OPSEC). This is putting our National Security community at serious risk not only from an operational/down range perspective i.e. Our enemy is adapting its Tactics Techniques and Procedures on the fly and utilizing the social web to communicate and organize; but also from a more holistic, Enterprise point of view. The Social Web, or National Security 2.0 as we define it for the defense, intelligence and diplomatic organizations, holds tremendous promise in helping enhance inter agency collaboration and position the community to make more efficient Command and Back Office decisions.

National Security 2.0, which we define as the convergence of Real-Time Communication, Collaboration and Command Visibility (RTC3), enables more effective leadership decision making, thus enhancing mission effectiveness. These three areas Communication, Collaboration and Command Visibility are unique to National Security 2.0:

Real-Time Communication: Web 2.0 is characterized by the instantaneous acquisition of information, continuous feedback loops and, as Tim O’Reily says, it is about harnessing collective intelligence.  National Security 2.0 is about the integration of strategic networking tools, Enterprise applications and social media into a common view.

Real-Time Collaboration: For national security practitioners, being able to understand and synthesize large amount of data is essential to accomplishing the mission. National Security 2.0 allows for Real-Time access to Enterprise tools, feeds from work groups and micro-communities.

Command Visibility: Harnessing Real-Time Communication and Collaboration enables our leaders to make better informed and more effective decisions, which in turn enhances mission effectiveness. The reality of leveraging the social web to enhance mission effectiveness must be an Enterprise wide effort.

National Security 2.0 must be about enhancing our ability to more effectively utilize resources and share and disseminate mission critical information (collaboration) and communicate in Real-Time to stakeholders, allies and enemies alike.

Communicating in a National Security 2.0 world also means rethinking antiquated legislation and policy regulations that do not jive in an era of technology enabled mass collaboration. The Smith Mundt Act for example, which prohibits the dissemination of information by the US abroad from being consumed by the American public is illustrative of the kind of policies and legislation that will have to change. In a world where a micro-blog can be seen all over the planet in milliseconds, the concept of legislating away the capabilities of the internet is ludicrous. Laws such as Smith Mundt are antiquated and are basically impossible to enforce.

If our National Security infrastructure is going to tackle the threats and seize the opportunities that exist, then it must begin to leverage the power of the social web in a more strategic and holistic manner and begin to put social networking tools in their rightful place in the kit bag. National Security 2.0 requires full enterprise integration of social tools, enterprise IT and open source data. Please join the conversation so we can bring our Nation’s security into the 21^st Century.

China’s real fear during the Uighur unrest has not come from the BBC, NBC or the NY Times, but rather the likes of Facebook, Fanfou (china’s version of twitter), Youtube and other social networking sites. China has most certainly paid close attention to the “Twitter Revolutions” in Moldova and Iran, but it begs the question: why?

In his commentary at NPR.Org, Evgeny Morozov, who has been writing and blogging about this issue on his blog and that of Foreign Policy writes..

The problem with the current media narrative of a “cat and mouse” game is that much of this narrative has been built by the media itself. First, the media finds a story of the next Twitter revolution, blows it out of proportion by manipulating (or simply misunderstanding) the facts, and then this story is accepted as an explanation of what happened.

Couldn’t agree more with him on this point. Tehranians (not Iranians), the elite and Iranians in the West were certainly on Twitter and organizing, but 400,000 protesters in a country of more than 66 million people  (that’s less than 1% for those keeping score at home) does not constitute a revolution.

Thus, having read many accounts of the Twitter Revolution in Moldova, it’s no surprise that the Iranian authorities tried to ban Twitter; whether it played any role in igniting the protests is beyond the point – there is no way that Iranians would not try to block Twitter given that it has been lauded by almost every single media outlet out there as the next revolutionary tool. Ditto the Chinese: what self-respecting Communist party wouldn’t ban Twitter given that it’s often been singled out as one of the reasons why so many Iranians gathered in the streets of Tehran?

Now, we are obviously supporters of the social web here at Strategic Social, however, it should be said that neither Twitter nor its Chinese equivalent Fanfou are going to bring down authoritarian regimes overnight. This does not mean that the power of transparency and real time communication and collaboration will not become a TRUE force for mobilizing millions of disenchanted Iranians, Chinese, or even Burmese down the line. For the time being, however, it remains a tool of the elite . Everyone forgets that the Iranian Revolution did not happen overnight, but rather began building steam throughout 1977 and 1978 before the eventual toppling of the Shah in ’79.

The opening up of closed socities, think Glasnost in the Soviet Union, led to a non-revolution that forever changed geo-politics and the shape of the world as we know it today. In the 80′s, that process of openness and transparency took years to develop. In today’s real time news cycle transparency is accelerated. The prospects for non-revolution brought on by this rapid dissemination of information will only happen if the movement goes viral beyond the elite to generate legitimate grassroots support.

Following the recent attack we’ve heard from dozens of analysts, bloggers and pundits who each respond with different ideas on how to address the issue. With recommendations including aggressive action against the pirates, exclusion zones and “sons of Iraq” models, a return to convoys, and more, we haven’t seen much discussion around the “information” problem. And yet, information could be a key enabler of our counter-piracy strategy. While criminals and pirates have effectively used a mix of low-tech and high-tech solutions to collaborate and target shipping, the maritime and national security communities have largely ignored their information strengths. Given the amount of data available and the large community of interest, we should launch a program to expose our information and develop a crowdsourced counter-piracy campaign.

Crowdsourcing conforms to existing US strategy and policy – it’s time we take action and start working together.

NATO Piracy Update Apr 9, 2009

Ignoring Information Superiority

Insurgents and Somali pirates are using mobile phones, text messages, informants, and GPS to coordinate their attacks. Many sources contend that the pirates even use VHF radios and informants at the Port Authority to ambush ships. Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenyan branch of the East African Seafarers’ Association, believes the pirates are using the AIS to plan and coordinate their attacks:

Mwangura said he believed the pirates were able to avoid navy patrols and target ships that could deliver juicy ransoms by using automatic identification system (AIS) technology, a system used by ships and vessel traffic services to track and identify ships. “We think they are using AIS to monitor ships … they can find out if the owner is rich or poor, find out what the ship is carrying and the nationality of the crew,” he said. “They don’t go out blindly.”

While a small group of well funded criminals leverage a mix of mobile communications, SIGINT and HUMINT, the community of mariners and naval defense forces struggle to collaborate and truly leverage information to their advantage. Recognizing the communication and collaboration problem, SPAWAR San Diego produced a detailed paper on the technical communication challenges of maritime collaboration “Networking the Global Maritime Partnership” stating:

One of the biggest challenges to instantiating an effective global maritime partnership is technical – how do the navies of disparate nations that desire to operate together at sea obtain the requisite…systems that will enable them to truly “network” and make the global maritime partnership a reality. Unless or until the technical challenges to networking navies at sea are addressed by the U.S. Navy and by likely coalition navies, the dream of a global maritime partnership will never be achieved.

SPAWAR is absolutely correct in one key respect: we can’t have a maritime partnership without a network. But the “technical challenge” at hand doesn’t require years or billions of dollars. The “network” as well as the tools and data already exist. Whether it’s Google Earth, internet chat, enterprise mashups or Twitter we have a number of possible tools at hand.

If it’s not a “technical challenge”, perhaps it’s our strategy or policy that’s flawed? Actually no, in fact the United States has already recognized the strategic importance of collaboration across the community. In December of 2008, The National Security Council published the Countering Piracy off the Horn of Africa: Partnership & Action Plan[.pdf]. In the text below, the US clearly states that we must lead and support efforts to work together across the community:

This Plan implements the National Strategy for Maritime Security (September 2005)[.pdf] and the Policy for the Repression of Piracy and other Criminal Acts of Violence at Sea (June 2007) as applied to piracy off the Horn of Africa. The Strategy affirms the vital national interest of the United States in maritime security, and recognizes that nations have a common interest in achieving two complementary objectives: to facilitate the vibrant maritime commerce that underpins economic security, and to protect against ocean-related criminal and dangerous acts, including piracy. Our Policy provides that we shall “[c]ontinue to lead and support international efforts to repress piracy . . . and urge other states to take decisive action both individually and through international efforts.” Accordingly, this Plan seeks to involve all nations, international organizations, industry, and other entities that have an interest in maritime security to take steps to repress piracy off the Horn of Africa.

The U.S. objective is to repress this piracy as effectively as possible in the interests of the global economy, freedom of navigation, Somalia, and the regional states. — Moreover, achieving this objective will require cooperation, coordination, and integration among military, law enforcement, judicial, diplomatic, and commercial interests in and beyond the affected region.

Emerging Solutions

The community already collects a large body of information relavent to the piracy problem and several of these organizations provide limited amounts of information and analysis through their websites.

• The Maritime Security Centre – Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) allows mariners to register their movements and receive alerts and maritime intelligence
• NATO’s Counter Piracy Operation Allied Protector provides useful counter piracy data, updates and analysis as well as contact information for further assistance
• The Maritime Liaison Office (MARLO) website facilitates the exchange of information between the United States Navy, Combined Maritime Forces, and the commercial maritime community.
• UNOSAT - Offers a large number of detailed pirate activity maps at no cost
• Combined Task Force 151 which was established by the US Fifth Fleet, US Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) provides basic information about the Task Force.

These groups serve up very useful information such as TF 150′s “Counter Piracy Operations off Somalia”[.ppt] and UNOSAT’s detailed maps of Somali pirate activity. While the information from these organizations is useful, it is largely static and fails to leverage the network effect of the broader community.

but there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. A recent Bloomberg article reveals that the EU, US and mariners have used internet chat to collaborate and share information. In a complimentary move, the International Chamber of Commerce maintains a Live Piracy Map with historical and real-time visualizations of piracy activity worldwide. And within the Google Earth Community, a private user, “Expedition”, created an extremely detailed map of piracy activity and infrastructure. These actions point to the future and hint at the possibility of information superiority by exposing data and tools to the wider community.

TF 150: Somali Piracy Incidents 2007 - 2009

Adopt Crowdsourcing for Information Superiority

While Captain John Konrad of gCaptain argues for the use of a “Twitter clone” to collect and distribute information to the community, this is only the first step in collaborating. We agree with Captain Konrad’s but we also believe a more comprehensive strategy is in order. The US, EU, NATO and other organizations should actively work together to free their unclassified data and make it accessible to the public. In parallel, the US should take a lead role in deploying an open platform and tools that allow the entire community to contribute and collaborate.

While we are not offering a specific approach, we hope the US and broader community will adopt crowdsourcing as a key strategy to achieve information superiority in the fight against pirates. For a great look at crowdsourcing visit BuildingPeace’s article on “Crowdsourcing Security”. An excerpt of this article is below:

The book Wikinomics begins with a story about Rob McEwen, CEO of Goldcorp Inc. In 1999 the small goldmining firm was threatened by a host of problems; if it did not find substantial new gold deposits, its mine would likely close and bring the company down. The company’s geologists had reason to believe their property was brimming with further gold deposits–up to thirty times their current production–but the geologists struggled to provide specifics. The company was at an impasse.

In March of 2000, McEwan did something that blew apart traditional business models and saved his company: he put all his company’s proprietary geological data on the Internet for public viewing and announced the “Goldcorp Challenge” with $575,000 of prize money for locating new gold deposits. He crowdsourced the problem to the public.

The authors write, “Within weeks, submissions from around the world came flooding in to Goldcorp headquarters. As expected, geologists got involved. But entries came from surprising sources, including graduate students, consultants, mathematicians, and military officers, all seeking a piece of the action. ‘We had applied math, advanced physics, intelligent systems, computer graphics, and organic solutions to inorganic problems. There were capabilities I had never seen before in thh industry,’ says McEwen.”

The authors conclude, “Today Goldcorp is reaping the fruits of its open source approach to exploration. Not only did the contest yield copious quantities of gold, it catapulted his underperforming $100 million company into a $9 billion juggernaut while transforming a backward mining site in Northern Ontario into one of the most innovative and profitable properties in the industry.

Protestors in Moldova

While we can debate the role of each service, the basic facts are true – the Social Web was and is being used to report, organize and influence protests against the Communists in Moldova.

Vitalie Eşanu provided some interesting lessons from the front lines, stating that they used McDonald’s free wifi as cellphones were being blocked. He also commented on the organization of the protests stating:

Initial organization, was spread over twitter and Facebook, and expected only few persons. Later we agree to create #pman to spread about this event over the world, and use Facebook for photos, and Youtube for videos

Twitter is still being used actively to report on events in Moldova and you can follow the twitter stream using the hashtag #pman. Watching this stream you can read the real-time reports of protesters as well as insights and advice being provided on how to respond.

Now, while many will argue the exact utility and role of services like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Flickr in these protests, I am concerned with the more basic issue of access. In many cases the protesters were unable to communicate or organize via the social web or phones because services were turned off or blocked. This is not a new phenomenon – governments have shut down and restricted printing presses, radios, television, cellular and internet services in the past. Given today’s technology we should start thinking about how we can provide rapidly deployable internet and cellular service when the time comes for the US to support movements such as these. I’m not arguing that Moldova is a place we should intervene, but I am saying we should analyze this event and think to the near future.

jeffbentley: reading: The Challenges of Perception Management in National Strategy and Military Operations [.pdf] http://tinyurl.com/d2gcvc

USAF Matteo Martemucci

The document “Regaining the High Ground: The Challenges of Perception Management in National Strategy and Military Operations” was written by Matteo G. Martemucci (Maj, USAF) while attending the Joint Forces Staff College in 2007. (Matteo is now Director of Operations at the 547th Intelligence Squadron)

The abstract of Maj Martemucci’s paper is below:

The informational element of power may be the most elusive for the U.S. Government to wield, but its importance is proportional to its difficulty. With the rise in global terrorist networks and a precipitous decline in world opinion of America’s foreign policy, Perception Management is more critical now than at any time in America’s history. This paper attempts to answer the question of why, in this time of conflict, it is so difficult for the U.S. Government to effectively leverage the informational element of power. It explores three friction-inducing elements that afflict the U.S. Government, including the military. The U.S. Government’s politics & personalities, bureaucracy, and aversion to the use of mass media, even in time of war, have precluded an integrated Perception Management campaign.
A historical review of Perception Management strategies since World War I reveals that this difficulty is based largely on individual personalities, an ever-growing bureaucracy, and an historical American concern about the perceived manipulation of the media by its government. To solve this problem, the President must clearly define lines of authority regarding the Government’s Perception Management strategy. He must also give that authority to a strong leader capable of coordinating the disparate efforts of numerous Government agencies. Finally, the U.S. Government must take a more proactive approach to media engagement as part of an integrated strategic Perception Management campaign.

Thinking about these three historical friction points made me wonder how social media will fare and how it will influence perception management.

Individual Personalities

Without revisiting the “personalities” in place during the writing of this paper in 2007, let’s instead look to the present and future. First, President Obama has handled himself skillfully in the strategic communication and social media front. Beyond the fact that his campaign leveraged the social web for an amazing victory, Obama’s interview with al-Arabiya Network in Dubai showed a policy of dialogue rather than dictation – certainly a format more appropriate for social media. Regardless of political inclination, we all have to agree that our nation’s highest leader has certainly set the tone for social media.

A group of Iraqi men watch Obama on TV

Under Secretary Clinton’s leadership the US State Department has engaged in innovative and effective social media campaigns reflecting a clear commitment to the power of social media. We can rightly expect that our nation’s Public Diplomacy efforts will continue to embrace social media.

Within the Department of Defense, key military leaders including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, General David Petraeus, and his adviser David Kilcullen have focused American military strategy towards counterinsurgency and favor the use of “soft power”. Across the military we see key military leaders stepping up to the plate and embracing the social web. In an earlier post we highlighted the “Leadership By Example” mentality of US Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen who has boldly spread the use of social media across his command. Similarly, Admiral Stavridis, commander of SOUTHCOM and his counter-part at AFRICOM, General Ward, have been using the internet to engage audiences. In fact, all across the military we are starting to see military commands embrace social media.

While “personalities” may have been a hindrance in past perception management policy and strategies, I expect the new administration as well as leaders within the Department of State and Department of Defense will usher in a new era of coordinated campaigns as well as a firm embrace of social media.

Bureaucracy

Yes, we got boatloads of bureaucracy and it’s not changing fast enough or soon enough. While I expect social media to revolutionize how we engage with foreign audiences, I expect bureaucratic challenges to be our biggest barrier. We will have to change our acquisition system, policies, operations, security procedures, manpower, training and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Politicians, agency heads and leaders across the government will have to make decisions, and we expect that will require years of staff work.

The Register has a great article about Andrew McLaughlin (Barack Obama Transition Team) and his attempt at “bringing Web 2.0 to Washington.” While Andrew’s experience is typical, the government is plodding along. The GSA recently signed deals with key social web companies such as Youtube, Flickr, Vimeo and Blip.tv. allowing them to use these services. But, look at the small print – it took nine months to put these agreements in place. Imagine how long an entire social media / social web strategy will take.

Deconstructing government bureaucracy in the near to mid term is unlikely, but there are movements working hard to change that reality. Government 2.0 Club is a great example and CNET was there to cover the ‘national organization created to allow government, academia, and industry to collaborate on Web 2.0 solutions for government.’ We attended along with hundreds of other Gov 2.0 idealists and had a chance to talk to foks such as Jack Holt who is leading social media change at the Defense Media Activity as well as Bill May of the US State Department who described State’s use of twitter, blogs, social networks, online video and other social media tactics.I also had a chance to talk with Laurel Ruma of O’Reilly Media and have great expectations for their Government 2.0 Summit in September of 2009.

The bottom line here is that bureaucracy is unlikely to change quickly, but it will change.

Social Media to the Frontlines

Perceived Manipulation of the Media by its Government

What a change two years can bring. When Major Martemucci wrote his original report I expect his frame of mind centered on the notion of mainstream media – namely how the US Government engaged and pushed its message to the leviathons of mass media. But in the two years since his paper was published, the media landscape has been upset by the emergence of social media. While broadcast news and papers aren’t dead, their influence has waned with the emergence of bloggers, citizen journalism, microblogging, and livestreaming. Now and into the future, these new sources of social media will increasingly frame perceptions of US policy and operations abroad.

Leaders and staff within the White House, US State Department and Department of Defense recognize this emerging trend and have increased their efforts to engage across the social web. While bureaucracy may slow the pace of change, new leaders and a new media landscape have set the stage for social media to play a leading role in perception management.

Adm. Allen Leads the Social Web from the Front

Taking a shot out of the Apple advertising series, Adm Allen demonstrates the effect of the Social Web on US Coast Guard communications. In a well written and succinct article of Coast Guard Magazine (Issue 4, 2008 Community), PA2 Dan Bender outlines the reasoning behind the Coast Guard’s embrace of the Social Web. Every command should take a look at the US Coast Guard Social Web Primer – below is an excerpt:

“The Coast Guard already has official pages on MySpace, FaceBook, Flickr and YouTube. There’s also an extensive U.S. Coast Guard entry on Wikipedia that covers everything from history and missions to how we know Popeye was a Coastie. So when it comes to social media, the Coast Guard has already made the commitment to be there. This begs the question, why?

The answer is communication.

A third of the country reads blogs. More than a fourth of the country has a profile on
MySpace or FaceBook. With numbers like that it’s safe to say that social media is a good
way to reach out to the public.”

And communicate they do – Adm Allen has encouraged service members to blog, tweet, upload videos, share content and communicate their service to the nation across the Social Web.

Adm Allen has led the Coast Guard into the Social Web foray through personal example. In September of 2008 he published an informal yet effective video on Youtube laying out his “Social Media Initiative” – a bold move and perfect example of leadership from the front. He is adeptly commanding – encouraging and supporting all ranks to embrace the Social Web.

US Coast Guard staff have followed his lead, both at the tactical level with service members submitting original content from the front lines, as well as the operational level. The Coast Guard CIO recently published the US Coast Guard’s Strategic Plan for C4&IT (FY 20009 – 2013) which lays out a “Web 2.0 Strategy” that adeptly embraces the key concept of transparency, sharing and collaboration:

2.7.1 Web 2.0 Strategy
Develop a strategy that defines how the Coast Guard can use Web 2.0 technologies (e.g. social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and podcasts) to improve the Coast Guard’s missions and operations; provide transparency to the public and interact with constituents; and enhance information sharing and collaboration within the Coast Guard and with partners (such as the Navy, Army, Air Force, and Border Patrol). (Primary POC: CG-63/OSC)

Major Milestones

• FY09 Q1: Determine elements and timeline of Web 2.0 to implement in CG Portal version 1 (See item 2.3.3 for CG Portal milestones.)
• FY09 Q2: Develop strategic plan to support the Commandant’s intent for Web 2.0 in coordination with Public Affairs

Key Performance Indicators
• Web 2.0 technologies identified and integrated with CG Portal

You can find Adm Allen online at the Commandant’s Corner (2.0) and read his regular posts at iCommandant The Web Journal of Admiral Thad Allen.You can even find him online via the Adm Thad Allen Facebook Page.

On Twitter, the Coast Guard has witnessed dozens of official and unofficial twitter accounts emerge. A full list is available at Who Uses Twitter in the Coast Guard, but the more notable users are USCG: an unofficial Twitter account for the United States Coast Guard;  CGBlog: The official twitter account for CGBlog.org; and U.S. Coast Guard: Official Twitter account for the United States Coast Guard. Adm Allen’s “tech celebrity status” has even spawned a FakeThadAllen account. With a mix of official and unofficial tweets out there, the Coast Guard reaches a large and diverse audience.

The US Coast Guard Facebook Page is well done with consistent updates and integration with their Youtube and Flickr streams. With 2,822 followers to date, they have attracted a small, but more importantly, passionate group of fans who promote their message. You can also find the US Coast Guard on Flickr at the US Coast Guard Flickr Page an for videos visit the US Coast Guard Youtube Channel which shows breaking videos of dramatic rescues, law enforcement action and more.

In Admiral Allen’s leadership by example we’ve witnessed an explosion of Coast Guard engagement across the Social Web. And this is a lesson for all military and national security organizations. Leaders at the top of the enterprise must embrace the Social Web through personal example. Setting an agenda and directing the organization to embrace the web is not enough. Adm Allen has stepped up to the front line with podcasts, a personal blog, a facebook account and more. He has reduced professional risk across the enterprise, demonstrating through personal example what he expects. If you view his Youtube message on Social Media you’ll find a message that is somewhat rough – the message is great – but the delivery and format is personal and uncut. And it’s perfect – Adm Allen’s example is encouraging all ranks to get out there and embrace the Social Web – acknowledging that their videos, content and message should be authentic. I expect we’ll see even greater social web innovation emerge from the US Coast Guard under his personal leadership.

It's time to stake your claim in the twitterverse

For those of you who’ve secured your unit or agency name on Twitter, congratulations! Now, for the 99% of you who haven’t, please get over there today and get it done. It won’t take more than a couple minutes to register your organization on Twitter and you’ll save yourself a great deal of time and frustration should someone decide to come along and squat on your domain. All you need is a username and the most basic of contact information. So if you haven’t done it yet go to Twitter Registration and fill out the requested fields before someone else decides to hijack your identity.

Many of you may not know what you’ll do with your Twitter account. That’s perfectly fine for the moment – just get your preferred name registered now (it’s free) and no one else can come along and take it. Once you have the name you can take your sweet time to decide what to do with it. Worst case you don’t do anything with it until late this year, but at least you’ve secured your unit’s name and prevented someone from taking a good name or even abusing your online identity.

Over the last two years some Twitter users have chosen to deliberately take military and intelligence community names for various reasons. Some of these are squatters – perhaps hoping to sell the name, trade for it, or even exploit it down the road for fun or profit. Others are simply having fun. In any case, should you find a user has taken a name which you feel your unit or agency has legal claim to you should visit Twitter’s Terms of Service policy as you can likely get them to assist you if a user is impersonating you or improperly using your brand or Trademark.

In many cases your organization will decide to use Twitter to communicate, to listen, to share content or for other uses. You might use the account to keep the public informed of key news; you may use it to recruit members; you might even use it to issue threat advisories, helpful tips or solicit assistance from the public. You may end up using it during an emergency for crisis communications or to respond to a disaster overseas. In any event, there’s likely at least one use you’ll have for Twitter and it just makes perfect sense to get out and get yourself a good name now.

As a parting shot, we’d like to recommend a few military and government Twitter users and bloggers who serve as great examples in the Twitterverse:

MajGen McDew made Social Media a Priority for Air Force Public Affairs

Air Force leading the way: Maj. Gen. Darren McDew made Twitter and other social media tools a priority early this year – check out @AFPAA, @AFPADude, @US_Air_Force, @airforce, @AFcombatcamera for a taste of what the Air Force is bringing to the table

US Coast Guard: @uscoastguard shares breaking news and media via their account

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF): @TotalCIO is not an ATF account but is run by Andy Blumenthal, the Chief Technology Officer of the ATF. It’s a great example of a Federal thought leader providing a personal voice with relavent professional information.

Combatant Commands: @USJFCOM, @PacificCommand, @southcomwatch, @US_EUCOM, @CENTCOMNEWS are using Twitter to various levels of success

US State Department: @Dipnote expand’s the reach of their official Dipnote Blog and encourages discussion and sharing of news.

DHS TSA Blog Team : @TSABlogTeam is relatively new but doing a good job at personalizing the TSA and sharing important news.

For a rather long and inclusive lists visit Ari Herzog’s (@ariherzog ) wiki of US Government Twitter users for official and unofficial pages.