I served 8 years in the Marines. Well, more like 6 and then I spent 2 years in IRR (Inactive Ready Reserve) which basically means that if all hell broke loose somewhere on the globe and my presence was needed to “kick butt and take names”, I’d have to go, contractually. With that said, I have always had a soft spot for my brothers/sisters who have served or serving now to keep our country free; and allow me to do what I do best.
A big thank you to Major Dan Ward of the United Stated Air Force for kindly answering my questions; and putting some deep thought on how the Air Force can/should use social media for more than just a recruiting tool. His insights are quite amazing and I want to quickly highlight one of his quotes below about social media and how it can create “ambient intimacy” and [...]
It’s great to see the U.S Military using social media to communicate with people. Most of us know someone who is serving or has served in the Military and it’s really easy to ask them questions about their experiences, challenges, etc. But now it’s even easier for just about anyone to get some feedback or learn about a specific branch of service, without having to be pressured at the recruiter’s office to sign on the dotted line …
It looks like most of the branches use Twitter (Army, Air Force, Navy and the Coast Guard). The Marines do have a twitter account but don’t use it very often. It would be great to actually see these twitter accounts actually engage in dome dialogue; rather than blasting messages, but it’s a start.
Most branches have blogs as well.