Posted by: blackvector | June 15, 2009

Social Networks May Help Iranian Protesters

Well the elections in Tehran have once again highlighted the use of Social

Protester in Iran. Note the woman holding a cell phone in the foreground.

Protester in Iran. Note the woman holding a cell phone in the foreground.

Networking on the world stage. I can’t help but wonder how much of a non-story this would be if it was not for the fact there are people on social networks providing the world information in real time. In discussing Iranians taking their story online, CNN highlights what many news orgs are starting to write about: Social Networking is having an impact on the world by highlighting events in real time, without censors monitoring and blocking the information. The CNN article is here. A couple of months ago, I wrote about the uprising in Moldavia, which is disputed in terms of whether or not social networks played a role. I was not too concerned about that since it did generate a thought in my mind. As a military public affairs practitioner, it is becoming increasingly clear that we need to be engaged in social networks. The latest struggle in Iran highlights the need to integrate social networking into military plans, if we do not, we could conceivable be at a serious disadvantage in future operations.

Consider that right now on Twitter @mousavi1388is sending out information about where to meet and protest the election results in Tehran. Now, I have no way to verify if this is actually him or not, but the tweets seem to line up with when CNN reports protests in Tehran and the pictures he post of Flickr are definitely from Iran. Here are two sample tweets from his account:

“الله اکبر از بالای پشت بام ها . Tonight & every night 9-11pm, “Alaho Akbar” from rooftops. #IranElection”

“#IranElection MOUSAVI IN TEHRAN NOW (PHOTO): www.flickr.com/mousavi1388”

Clearly someone is using Twitter to not only let the world audience know what is going on, but also to organize those within the country of what to do next. A Twitter-organized protest seems to have actually come out of this one. The use of Flickr to post imagery is also interesting; they are able to bypass official sensors on media outlets by going direct from a mobile device to the Flickr website. Guess the Iranian network watchers don’t know about Flickr. Unconfirmed reports from Iran claim that FaceBook as well as opposition web sites have been blocked in that country. Of course that does not apply if your service provider is not Iranian-based going through official state routers. Information always has a way to surface.

As said before in earlier posts, public affairs entities must plug into social networks and capitalize on the leverage they can provide. But it has to be a conversation. Not a one-way press release as often times it has become. The control of the information is no longer there for us and we can’t really target audiences with specifc information — PA must adapt to put out its message rather than have someone do it for us. We can be assured, if we’re not talking on social networks, someone will do it for us.

Smilar post from Gwynne on dot-gov is here.

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Posted by: blackvector | April 23, 2009

Bringing Social Networking To Iraq? Could Work: In Context of Iraqi Culture, Not Ours

State Dept Social Networking Delegation in Iraq.First off, do not get me wrong here, I applaud social networking and what it can deliver and fully support integration into existing processes for Public Affairs/Public Relations/Public Diplomacy and this group is a step in the right direction. However, one thing that has always bugged me is how we go into the overseas environment and attempt to take Western processes into other cultures. Having spent several consecutive years living in Europe and deploying all over, I could see firsthand  how we fail in getting the message out to a foreign audience. The state department has taken a delegation of “social networking” types into Iraq to “provide conceptual input as well as ideas on how new technologies can be used to build local capacity, foster greater transparency and accountability, build upon anti-corruption efforts, promote critical thinking in the classroom, scale-up civil society, and further empower local entities and individuals by providing the tools for network building.” All that is lofty press release jargon for something, but i’m not sure what. One of the executives is @jack, co-founder of the social networking site Twitter.com. He has Tweeted his experiences, to include imagery from his trip, and shared it with his followers — pretty cool.

In a previous post I discussed how Social Media is a buzz word. It is not a panacea to fix everything. Bringing social networking to the Iraqis is not going to save them from anything. In fact, one has to wonder how they can access social networking or if the infrastructure was in place to do it yet (for example, no 100% reliable electrical grid yet). I am sure some are, but is it the academics, politicos and elites only? How does the everyday citizen get his information? Whatever the case may be, I do think there is a place for social networking in the new Iraq. The key is for the effort to be developed by the Iraqi culture for its use — not modeled after American communication trends and theories. During one of my graduate classes at the University of Oklahoma, Intercultural Communication, one of the points Dr. Clemencia Rodriguez kept discussing was how when we developed communication programs for foreign audiences we must do so within the context of the cultures, by using the culture’s idioms and customs of communicating, not ours. Dr. Rodriguez places a high importance on the need to understand Intercultural Communication and rightly so. Her thought is tied to the concept of the global village (which I believe social networking has a key stake in), she says;

“Never before did our world resemble so closely what Marshall McLuhan called ‘the global village.’ The economic functions around transnational corporations and international markets; peoples from different parts of the world migrate — for different reasons — to other parts of the world; the work-force has become diverse in many different ways: people of different ages, genders, ethnicity, race, religions, languages, have to live and work together. All this means that never before has good intercultural communication been so valuable.”

We absolutely must address how we communicate with our audiences (stakeholders) both in the home station and deployed environment. More often than not, Dr. Rodriguez’s point is spot on, the communities PA practitioners target are no longer of one nationality or another, they are a blend of nationalities — whether overseas or in the United States. Our communication practices, using traditional methods as well as social networking will still deliver no effect if the message and meaning are not framed within these cultural contexts. In other words, not thinking what would be good for us in terms of communicating an idea, but asking the people of that culture how they would do it and what is good for them. Would Iraqis even Twitter or FaceBook? Probably. Shortly after the fall of the Hussein government, the proliferation of satellite dishes took off, dubbed in some media circles the national flower of Iraq. People wanted access to information: information that was previously controlled. Social networking does offer Iraqis this access to unrestricted information.

Social networking does offer access, but it does not cure the delivery of a message no one wants to hear (by this I mean a poorly written message); or the delivery of a message in the wrong cultural context. As we move more into Phase 0 type of operations, Public Affairs must shift from reactive to a more proactive and culturally-centric form of outreach in the deployed environment. I happen to agree with Matt Armstrong, from MoutainRunner.us, that PA officers and SNCOs should probably be trained more like Public Diplomacy officers rather than Journalists.

Along with the technology group that went to Baghdad there should have been experts in Iraqi interpersonal communication. Integrate the way Iraqis communicate with each other and the access social networking can provide, and I see a winning combination. Do only one or the other, or worse – design it from an American viewpoint – and you can only have a failure to communicate.

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Posted by: blackvector | April 14, 2009

AF Social Media Handbook Online

AF BookThe Air Force has released its Social Media handbook and video on how the Air Force is encouraging its members to use Social Media. The handbook made its debut at the 2009 AF Public Affairs Leadership Development Seminar in Herndon, VA. It was quite the hit, and the handbook has started to make its way around other government agencies and large companies as they search for a way to jump start their SM ventures. Clearly the AF is ahead of most on the use of Social Media. Thanks largely in part to Maj Gen Darren McDew who had the vision to see the benefits Social Media brought to the Air Force. He embraced the changes Social Media could enable and encouraged the AF Public Affairs community to get online while he served as director of Air Force public affairs. Recent posts on Twitter highlight  just how far ahead the AF is on its Social Media front with many people giving @AFPAA kudos. However, there are still several obstacles to overcome in the Air Force’s quest for integrating Social Media tools into its communication arsenal. A recent blog post pointed out the irony:

“A round of applause for the U.S. Air Force, please. They have provided the most deliciously ironic story we’ve reported in a long time. In the very same week that sources reported that Air Force servers were blocking virtually all popular social media sites, including the military’s own YouTube alternative site, “TroopTube,” the Air Force also held an annual conference focusing on… you guessed it, “new media tactics.” From: OhMyGov.com.

In fact, the Secretary of the Air Force believed in the power of having every Air Fore member communicate directly with the public — sending out a policy letter on the subject. The power of every Airman as a communicator can only be realized through the use of Social Networking sites, not by blocking access to them. There has to be a balance between security and access, with risk accepted to enable what is clearly becoming a powerful tool in citizen engagement and transparency in government: Social Media.

One thing is for sure, blocking access to social media sites only prevents the Air Force from having it’s voice in the digital world. It does not prevent its adversaries from sharing their point of view with the world. I have to agree with OhMyGov.com, the irony of the Air Force blocking its own social media efforts is quite the conundrum. However, it is a welcome sign in the way ahead. I firmly believe access will prevail, it has to. Not because I think it needs to, but because the American taxpayer demands transparency in government. The security risks will be mitigated and the risk will be accepted so that every Airman can in fact become a communicator. It is inevitable.

The Air Force has its Social Media handbook on line at the following link, feel free to download it: AF Social Media handbook. The accompanying video is on here on You Tube.

Related Stories (from OhMyGov.com):

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Posted by: blackvector | April 9, 2009

Protest Organized On Twitter: Why PA Needs To Engage in SN

Moldova protestersReading  a  CNN Story on Protests in Moldova, which was Twitter orchestrated, it is clear more than ever the Department of Defense’s Public Affairs capability must be plugged into Social Networking (SN). Not because SN is the latest and greatest way to communicate, I would argue it does not replace face-to-face communication, but because SN is being increasingly used to sway public opinion on nearly everything from products to political affiliations. In the case of Moldova, SN was used to orchestrate a 10,000 person protest against elections that are perceived by the Moldavian people to be rigged. I am not going to debate the truth behind that, but I am going to debate the need for PAs to access and understand Social Networking and Now Media.

Today a friend of mine proposed that SM is not a cure all, it is not the answer to all that ails an organization’s PA efforts — I agree. Further, another friend asked what about the traditional methods, do we throw those away. I would say no, we do not.  In an earlier post I spoke about the need to incorporate SM practices into existing processes. The example from Moldova highlights that the Social Networking tools can have a profound effect on a government and thus can’t simply be dismissed as snake oil, but nor can they be the panacea either. An organization must have a strategy as to what it wants to get out f SN, and then go from there tactically implementing into its processes. But, this usually has to start at senior levels.

Timely of course is yesterday’s appearance of Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Twitter (@thejointstaff). Several other senior leaders in DoD are also starting to have a presence on SN sites and indeed each service’s PA functions also have a presence of SN sites. Yet, there seems to be in some departments a general reluctance to let employees access SN sites out of concerns for security. Problem here is there needs to be a balance and a certain level of risk accepted. Imagine being in an expeditionary environment, unable to access Twitter, for example, then suddenly being caught off guard by an instant Twitter-organized protest at the front gate of the deployed location. It can happen, and I am sure we will see it happen.

Our adversaries are making great use of SN sites. One irony is they are using our own servers in the US to host extremists sites. An article in the Washington Post addresses this, Extremists Using US Services to Host Sites. It is very difficult to develop a counter propaganda campaign if you can’t access your adversaries sites that are actually hosted on US servers. The mechanics of the issue of access is a better argument for a later post, but the need to be plugged into SN sites is there. Not because necessary because it is cool and new, but because if we are not plugged into SN someone will do the talking for us on our behalf. Our adversaries certainly use SN as a cheap force multiplier, but so can we.

For the past several months, I have been working on SN and its implications for use in the expeditionary environment. The need exists for PAs to be on SN sites both at home station and in the deployed environment.

@Home Station

In the day-to-day ops of a typical PA shop, SN can leverage a simple, effective, and cheap way to engage stakeholders around the installation. Some PAs are far ahead of their peers in the SN game. On Twitter, @US_Air_Force, @180thFW, @433_AFRC, @Nellisafb and @AFCombatCamera are doing a fantastic Job at highlighting their organizations with frequent updates and interactive discussions. They also have a presence on FaceBook. One key here, interactive, they follow people back and personalize the conversation. If you are going to do it, you need to be engaging, otherwise set up your fax machine to send out news releases. There are non-PAs using SN to talk about the AF, One such person is Jen at her Blog, 20 Something and in The Air Force. A great site discussing what it is like to be in the AF — talk about a great recruiting tool, 3rd party advocacy.

@Deployed  in AOR

In the expeditionary environment, new ground for SN, the pay off maybe even bigger. On FB, Twitter, YouTube and other sites one can find several deployed members talking about their experiences with their friends and family. Organizations can’t pay for that kind of exposure. It is what we are  trying to accomplish, I would argue, with ideas like making every Airman a communicator. An organization’s best resource for spreading the word is its own people. On Twitter, one ANG member, @deployedteacher, is doing just that. He has an interesting ongoing discus ion as life as a deployed teacher serving in the National Guard. There are a few other examples as well, some have a presence on FaceBook, which I see as a valuable tool when your deployed not only to keep in touch with friends and family, but to let them know what we’re doing in the expeditionary environment from someone on the ground.

@What next?

Well, clearly a need exists to integrate SN tools into the PA arsenal to amplify DoD’s communication efforts. Yet many of the usual hurdles must be overcome: costs, manpower, security, and a fear of losing control over the message. Well folks, the costs is minimal, the manning is there, just integrate SN into existing structure, security is an issue, but PAs are Twittering at home as a result, and the control of information was lost with the advent of the Internet (in my opinion, once the Internet started, the ability to control a message or target audiences became skewed). Bottom line: PAs need to engage in SN.

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Posted by: blackvector | April 7, 2009

Social Media is a Buzz Word

I have been in the field of Public Affairs for 20 years and in that time I have seen several changes to processes and methods, yet I remain to see one thing constant:  the job of PA/PR firms is to communicate.

Lately I have seen many Social Media Experts on Twitter and FaceBook and other sites touting the value of SM. Well, it still comes down to communicating to me. Several of our offices have asked me if they should create a Chief of Social Media position, to which I say, no. Social media should be incorporated into existing processes in PA/PR offices. I see these sites as a tool, not the means to an end. Creating a Chief of Social Media in an office is a redundancy since, for example, the person ends up doing the same thing the Chief of media is doing, just using a different method – sending out news releases or talking with media. I see great examples of people incorporating SM into their processes ever y day. For example on Twitter @LindyKyzer is a PA specialists with the US Army that uses Twitter to send out information about the Army, a sort of virtual press desk officer. She does not use Twitter to talk about how the Army can use SM like I see others do.

A recent post on Wisebread.Com called 7 Ways to Spot A Social Media Snake Oil Salesman got my attention. It has some great points and unfortunately there are a lot of people I have seen that meet these criteria. I liken it to the Strategic Communication experts or the Influence Operation experts or the Desktop Publishing experts or the Digital Camera experts and so on.  Each new phase of PA/PR had experts selling us on paying them for advice, yet few could deliver on the actual expectation: increased communication and outreach.

David Meerman Scott is maybe one of the best presenters I have seen discuss how PA and PR firms need to incorporate SM into their processes. His book The New Rules of Marketing and PR is certainly a must read for anyone in this profession. His latest book, World Wide Rave gets at the heart of the argument here. Companies do not need to hire SM Snake Oil salespeople or expensive firms to market their product, they simply need to integrate SM into their existing PA/PR offices and realize that their own employees are the best way to create what he calls a World Wide Rave about the organization, product, service or issue.

Every new process has an “expert” but I would argue the experts are those in the industry who can take the shiny new tool and incorporate it into existing processes to maximize the effect: communication and as David Meerman Scott says, create a World Wide Rave about their organization, product or issue.

What do you think? Maybe I am a SM Snakeoil salesman, but then again, I am not selling you this concept or asking you to buy into it, I am simply asking you to; listen – talk – transform, how we do the business of communication. One thing is for sure, it is changing whether we want it to or not and we need to hop on that train for the long ride.

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