A pretty remarkable email recently landed in my inbox. The subject?
"US Southern Command is now following you on Twitter!"
Now that's pretty remarkable. I honestly don't know who updates SOUTHCOM's Twitter--probably not the Commander, Admiral James Stavridis (USN), though he does keep an excellent blog and wrote a first-rate tale of leadership in Destroyer Captain. I imagine that someone in the Public Affairs Office is responsible for @southcomwatch, but think for a moment at how incredible it is that one of the Joint Combattant Commands of the United States military is following Andrew Welch on the same website that my mother uses to keep in touch with her family and Comcast uses to better serve its customers. We're looking at a true global information marketplace, where a comment I must have made was relevant enough or insightful enough to suddenly connect me to an ongoing conversation the Admirals in South Florida.
The result? Well, instead of just seeing the USNS Comfort leave Norfolk a few weeks ago, I get to follow this great humanitarian mission in near real time while I sit at my computer methodically working my way through the afternoon's work.
...And the story doesn't stop there either. Just in the last week, for example, I've learned of the end to the recent standoff with Somali pirates from Admiral Mike Mullen (or, more likely, his designated "Twitterer") at @thejointstaff, talked leadership with a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer (@mvittone), and helped spread the word about implementation of the Transportation Workers Identification Card in Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach (thanks @uscoastguard). Not bad for a junior Coast Guard Auxiliarist from Virginia.
The real value in this is how some in uniform are taking the plunge, thinking outside the box, and using consumer technologies to circumvent traditional means of mass communication and connecting on a personal, conversational level with the American public. The Coast Guard has been a real leader (perhaps I am biased) with our Commandant, Admiral Thad Allen, setting up shop on Facebook and personally writing in his own blog, but others have joined in as well. The aforementioned Admiral Stavridis is a great example. Admiral Willard (USN) over in the Pacific Fleet is another. I just learned (via Twitter, about 2 minutes ago) that the Air Force is jumping in as well. And I suspect that we will see more and more of this as uniformed services, all loyal and accountable to the public trust, see ever increasing value in opening direct dialogues with that public, their own personnel, and those elsewhere in the world that we serve.
It's a fascinating trend to watch as consumer technology, social forces, and uniforms come together. Strategic Social (@stratsoc) has been putting together a nice blog on the subject, one that is definitely worth following if this interests you.
Who else is Twittering for the Uniform? How are they doing?
1 comments: