How the Military Could Better Use Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to Inform the Public

<h1>How the Military Could Better Use Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to Inform the Public</h1>Author: <a title="Virgil Magee" href="http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/virgil-magee/170817.htm">Virgil Magee</a> Despite all the fears that the military using social media will pose a security threat to the nation, more and more experts are beginning to believe that not using them will be worse than using them. The main reason these people believe this is because it is the new media. There are so many more people online these days than even five years ago. With the steady fall of the newspaper industry, people are realizing that the government, the military in particular, needs to adopt another form of communication with its people. The main way in which the military could use social media sites to inform the public is with their public relations. Because they cannot Twitter their whereabouts during a secret mission, they need to be able to use it for something else. When it is used for PR, they will be able to regain the trust of their younger generation. They would be able to upload information and photos of the soldiers who are fighting to protect the freedoms of the country. Instead of hide them behind generic television commercials, why not celebrate their bravery?   Another way that the military could use social media as a way to inform the public is actually by using it. Instead of just creating a page and not really doing much with it except blasting messages as if they are orders. The point of social media is to stay connected with people and to communicate with new people. There are a lot of people these days who agree that the military could benefit from using their account the same way other businesses use their account. While they most likely will not be about to divulge security issues, they still could keep the public updated on what they are doing.   Perhaps the best way in which the military could use social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to inform the public is by updating them on their missions and whereabouts. Because they will not discuss any top secret information, they could use these sites to inform the public the same information they would tell to a news media outlet. More people would respond to these reports because they would be written almost from a firsthand point of view. They would know everything there was about the mission, so they would be able to talk about it much better than someone hearing it from another person.About the Author: Virgil W. Magee is the Deputy Director of Media Analysis for Strategic Communications for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan. In his position he is responsible for the identification and analysis of local, regional and global media trends pertaining to multinational ISAF and North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) alliance missions and strategic objectives for 42 partner nation defense and foreign affairs ministerial-level organizations, NATO and United Nations mandated missions.Article Source: <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/">ArticlesBase.com</a> - <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/public-relations-articles/how-the-military-could-better-use-facebook-twitter-and-myspace-to-inform-the-public-992080.html" title="How the Military Could Better Use Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to Inform the Public">How the Military Could Better Use Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to Inform the Public</a>

Despite all the fears that the military using social media will pose a security threat to the nation, more and more experts are beginning to believe that not using them will be worse than using them. The main reason these people believe this is because it is the new media. There are so many more people online these days than even five years ago. With the steady fall of the newspaper industry, people are realizing that the government, the military in particular, needs to adopt another form of communication with its people.

The main way in which the military could use social media sites to inform the public is with their public relations. Because they cannot Twitter their whereabouts during a secret mission, they need to be able to use it for something else. When it is used for PR, they will be able to regain the trust of their younger generation. They would be able to upload information and photos of the soldiers who are fighting to protect the freedoms of the country. Instead of hide them behind generic television commercials, why not celebrate their bravery?

Another way that the military could use social media as a way to inform the public is actually by using it. Instead of just creating a page and not really doing much with it except blasting messages as if they are orders. The point of social media is to stay connected with people and to communicate with new people. There are a lot of people these days who agree that the military could benefit from using their account the same way other businesses use their account. While they most likely will not be about to divulge security issues, they still could keep the public updated on what they are doing.

Perhaps the best way in which the military could use social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to inform the public is by updating them on their missions and whereabouts. Because they will not discuss any top secret information, they could use these sites to inform the public the same information they would tell to a news media outlet. More people would respond to these reports because they would be written almost from a firsthand point of view. They would know everything there was about the mission, so they would be able to talk about it much better than someone hearing it from another person.

Virgil W. Magee is the Deputy Director of Media Analysis for Strategic Communications for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan. In his position he is responsible for the identification and analysis of local, regional and global media trends pertaining to multinational ISAF and North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) alliance missions and strategic objectives for 42 partner nation defense and foreign affairs ministerial-level organizations, NATO and United Nations mandated missions.

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Article Tags: Public Relations, Media Relations, Strategic Communications, Media Anlysis

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