Digital Public Affairs Training at DINFOS
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US Army Public Affairs Staff Sgt. Joshua Salmons, who coordinates internet-based capabilities training at the Defense Information School (DINFOS) on getting the United States Army public affairs staff up to speed on social media, speaking truth to power and advocating decentralized communications in the command and control world.
I'm returning as the Official Podcaster of the PRSA International Conference.
I’ll be talking to a good number of military public affairs officers who handle public relations for the US Armed Forces at the upcoming event.
3:01 – Integrating social media training into the curriculum at the Defense Information School (DINFOS).
4:28 – How the US Army’s senior leadership uses public affairs and information operations in battle to manage public perceptions, and the fundamental policy that every service member is a spokesperson for the US Armed Forces.
6:53 – How US Military senior leadership is responding in principal to the risks and opportunities of new media engagement, and how middle leadership is applying social media on a tactical basis.
8:52 – The seriousness with which Major General Bergner and General Casey, as well as the US Air Force, US Navy and US Coast Guard’s senior leadership are acting to make sure that the US Armed Forces get social media right.
9:34 – Specifically what the US Armed Forces are doing at this point in time with social media.
10:09 – How the media and blogosphere got the news about US Marines Corps social media policy all wrong.
10:23 – Select US Dept. of Defense social media programs by the numbers (as of Oct. 15, 2009):
- US Marine Corps Facebook Followers – 98,945
- US Army Facebook Followers – 65,268
- US Air Force Facebook Followers – 8,125
- US Coast Guard Facebook Followers – 7,420
- Pentagon Channel YouTube Subscribers –140
11:20 – Social media as an information battlefield tool where public opinion is won and lost.
12:12 – Tia Nelson asks if the US Army is actively nurturing relationships gained in social, and if service members are having conversations with civilians?
14:16 – US Dept. of State foreign service officer and former US Army infantry reservist Don Kilburg III asks if the US Army is systematically listening, and if information coming in is being used to drive outgoing information.
16:40 – How Jack Holt, the DMA's new media guy, is exploring the tactical value of social media tools.
17:37 – Theresa Christianson ask how the military monitors pictures that personnel post to social media services , given the potential security risks and the “grisly quotient.”
18:20 – How the US Army is using training and education to curtail and mitigate the security risk of social media, and why misuse should never be used as a justification for inaction.
20:08 – US President Barack Obama and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen recognize the risks of social media, but they see the benefits of establishing a secure, trusted communications channel as well worth that risk.
21:11 – The US Army’s operational security (OPSEC) strategy and training to offset the risks of cyber warfare and cyber terrorism.
24:07 – Whether or not social media could be used as a tool for winning the trust and confidence of the Afghani people in the current conflict.
26:08 – The attitude inside the US Dept. of Defense about the social media review that is expected to conclude this month, and whether it will form the basis of an umbrella social media policy for al branched of the military sometime in the future.
27:12 – Mr. Price Floyd, asst Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs is a great advocate of social media and has talked about using past guidelines and widely moving forward.
29:37 – Tips on speaking truth to power.
32:13 – Advocating for a decentralized communications model inside the ultimate command and control organization.
33:51 – Balancing social media communications against national security. 37:00 – Will social media become a core component of the US Armed Force training regiment?
39:10 – The use of Twitter, possibly by the Basaji riot police during the recent electoral protests in Iran to trick Mousavi supporters into showing up at fake protest sites where they would be arrested.
40:58 – Will laptops and handhelds devices ever be standard issue for service members?
42:40 – Reclassifying “social media” and “internet-based operations” to better communicate it value to all facets of the military complex.
43:29 – Empowering all service members to tell the military story themselves directly to their peers via social media.
45:20 — End
