Blog Posts tagged with "Public Affairs"

Nice job Taylor. I particularly like the Q&A with Admiral Stavridis--very good questions with insightful answers.

Your girl is so cute. Loved the video of your daughter . . . and, well, the dog shoes is just crazazy. You realize all the other dogs that watch that video are now going to laugh at your dog at their next poker game. Poor pooch. ;-D Oh yeah, the other stuff is good. ;-D ADM Stavridis is really a "grand communicator". I'll be interested to see what he does when his Navy adventure ends some day, and how he will continue to capitalize on his command of this new medium. Keep up the good work.

Wonderful news ! Congrats Admiral ! Thank you Taylor !

OK, I don't know what's better, your sweetie singing the heck out of Boom Boom Pow - giving Fergie a run for her money, BTW, or you saying "Oh Snap" to Tembo trying on those hysterical shoes...love it! I should have put the snow video up here of Chris getting caught in the tiny snow tunnel! You're gonna rock this social media job, Taylor! Keep doing what you're doing and getting our high-speed social media Admiral out there! Our job is easy with a forward-leaning leader like him. Miss you guys too and thanks for the kind words. ;) I'm sure I'll enjoy school but it won't be half as fun as social medializing with EUCOM! As they say down here in the South, bye ya'll! Maj. Kristi Beckman

the next big thing is google buzz google has the clue ,the mone,y and the coder, to make the next big internet "thing" every day more cool stuff there and while is a "social" thing big HUG to all ;o)

Cupoane de reduceri, We've all been following the news about the Facebook privacy issues as Senator Charles Schumer brought this to light and has been very verbal in the news about it. There are three more Senators on board as well and they wrote a letter to Facebook. Regardless, doesn't look like Facebook will change their ways and their user-base has increased quite a bit. See the article from Faster News here for more info: http://thefastertimes.com/tech/2010/05/18/why-facebook-did-it/ Bottom line is to make sure you have your privacy settings locked down how you want them. You have to ensure in this day and age of cyber networking that you know exactly what you're getting yourself into. Thanks for the feedback! Kristi

Dgriess55, That's a good point! You are correct that the military is delving into this realm fast. All of us PAs have been given a crash course and are braving the seas as my Navy boss would say :o) It is important, as you mention, to take a bit of time out of your day to engage and communicate with people. I've noticed that it can consume your day very easily though, because it's fun to connect and re-connect with people. So, while we need to take some time out of the day, we also need to remember there are living/breathing human beings around us who need us as well ;) It's all about time-management and you've got to have these skills to work as well as play in this realm. Take care and thanks for the comment! Kristi

Good points, J. Scot! I have to admit I'm not quite as up on Foursquare as I'd like to be. We're still getting everyone on board here with Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. But it is something to look at for the future. Our Admiral is constantly thinking about the future possiblity in social media so we're keeping our eyes and ears open. We've recently put quite a bit of time and energy into learning about crowd-sourcing and the importance of it and the amazing capabilities we have using this mechanism. It's incredible what companies like www.crowdflower.com and www.ushahidi.com did in Haiti with crowd-sourcing to help support the disaster relief. Soooo, when you get here this summer, let's work on your great idea! :o) Kristi

Right now, the hot ticket is Location Applications such as Gowalla and Foursquare. What turned into a fun way to tell your friends where you were at is now starting to take shape in the marketing world. I've seen numerous stores that have Foursquare and Gowalla signs telling you, "Don't forget to check in! Tell your friends about our great sale coming this weekend." Some might think this is a bit creepy, but smart businesses with social media strategies are finding creative ways to work this into their plans and get some Return on Investment (ROI). Another way location services can be useful is to setup of cool things to do on an installation. For example, I am getting ready to move and work with the EUCOM family this Summer. Wouldn't it be cool to have a location based "Treasure Hunt" if you will or a Foursquare "Tour" of the installation using location based tools? Anyone can create an adventure for others to take part in and it keeps track of your progress. This would be a great idea to make a task like in-processing a little more fun and entertaining. It also serves as a record that I visited the organizations and facilities that are important to in-processing. Tools such as these are fantastic, but they don't do much good unless you find ways to effectively utilize them and effectively incorporate them into your organization. As more and more people make the move towards buying a smart phone or iPad-type device, the more practical and more successful an event such as this will be. Parting comment - What if they loaned you a Smart Phone or Device during the duration of in-processing in order to utilize some of these tools? Might be a small investment to turn a daunting and sometimes confusing process into a top-notch program. Just something to think about.

To most of the military world, the next big thing is your current thing. Thanks for sharing about ADM Stavridis' habits. Getting Commanders, XOs, COS, EDs, etc. to find their voice and engage with their colleagues across echelons and commands will be huge. The other big behavior change will be to get everyone to plan a few minutes for discovery, reflection and response in to every day.

I`m very concerned about privacy on this social platforms.Facebook is having some problems now and this is not good for us. Great article btw :)

I totally agree! The MWR people could do something really cool with FourSquare, GoWalla, and/or Yelp! Getting it past the lawyers and OPSEC folks would probably be the biggest hurdle...

For those who are concerned about Facebook privacy, please take a look at the following links on what you can do to "adjust" your Facebook settings to safeguard your privacy. http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/5869/facebook-how-to-prevent-your-profile-from-showing-up-in-public-searches/ http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/5875/facebook-use-a-limited-access-list-to-prevent-certain-friends-from-seeing-some-or-all-of-your-information/ --Arun

Sorry for the delay on responding to this -the short answer is, "no." We wouldn't expect everyone in an organization to clear buildings - or fly aircraft - or fight fires. So why would we expect everyone to do something as important as strategic communications? Its especially important not to make this forced because it's so painfully apparent when you have people going online who are uncomfortable with it. Go onto the CGSC blogs and look at some of the posts from the Army Majors going through ILE. You can readily tell the ones who ahve a passion for online engagement versus the ones who are doing it because it's a course requirement.

This is an interesting initiative. Are you collaborating through CHIRP? Lots of good discussion on SNS.

Only if you have a "Message" or A Thing too Tell,that not an another "million" ;) Pages. A Blog must have a SOUL. A Spirit so Visitors come Back . And good Morning from the Remstal Valley East of you ;) ::: Have you seen the purple bunny the killer bunny of estern I hear peps talking about there is some in the gerlingen area ;) TAKE CARE WATCH OUT ;)

I don't think it is a bad idea to encourage those who "want" to blog or tweet about there day to day experience, I know a lot of people that would love to know more about our men & women in uniform, what is better than to hear it directly from them. I worked with quite a few corporate CEO's that uses the same argument like Gary B "This could very well encourage a lot of confusion, skepticism, and lose credibility with those receiving the message."! I think they do understand the power of this new tool,but are too scared to have it used by others (then them) to communicate with the public. I always ask them to support there argument with a research, report or any doc, but there is none. I am all for the effort that the U.S military is doing to reach out for people like us by allowing anyone who "wants" to use social media to use it. Kristi, keep up the good work. cheers, Ahmed

I am a fairly regular blogger and a big proponent of balancing my offline communication with my online engagements. As a member of the Armed Forces, it is absolutely critical to know and understand the communication environment in order to develop an effective communication strategy. During the past 10 months as Student at the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, my seminar designed a strategic communication concept that any organization can utilize for learning about the communication environment and find ways to develop effective an communication strategy for success. My role a the 'Social Media Guru' focused on the idea of balancing online/offline identities, building trust, branding, and developing effective communication techniques and strategies in today's collaborative, online, communication environment. To help my learning, I created my own consulting business online. It all started with blogging. It was a way for me to share my interests in home theater, helping others make decisions on personal electronic purchases and providing tech information to a variety of audiences. In just six months, I've been able to develop a Facebook fan base of nearly 1000 followers, average 15-20 daily views of my video blogs, and garnered interest from all over the globe. I am truly amazed at how effective my approach has been in such a short period of time. However, it has taken a lot of work in preparing my blogs and designing content that is not only entertaining but also educational. My goals are simple: build and maintain trust with my followers, balance an online image that is consistent with my offline image, and most of all....be someone who is willing to reach out and develop effective, professional relationships. If you are interested in seeing the fruits of my labor, you can visit my site at heathaplexvision.com. Additionally, here is a link to the Design Concept for Strategic Communication I helped developed this past year at SAM

Gary, This is where I think we'll have to agree to disagree. It's not about choosing that one person to communicate. I could do this all day long, but I KNOW folks would get bored hearing from me. I want to encourage our troops to come forward and tell their story, their unit's story. We all do the same thing here at European Command. There won't be different messages that will confuse people, rather different ways to tell the story. Each of us has a part in building partnerships throughout Europe and Eurasia. Each of us chose the military as our way of life. Each of us works hard everyday to defend our freedom and our homeland forward. For European Command, it's about transparency and reaching out farther than we've ever been able to before. We're aware of operational security and yes, social media adds a level of risk. But the good far outweighs the risk which is why the Department of Defense made the critical move to open up the social media sites throughout the DOD. Communication and information is essential in this day and age and if we, the DOD, aren't communicating in this realm, then we are messing up. Simply put, this is just one more tool that we, and now the troops, can use to tell our story and to get great feedback like yours. Thank you! Kristi

Ray, Thanks for the comment on this one. We want to encourage those who "want" to blog. It will definitely not be a requirement. However, there are many out there who have a passion for writing/reporting as you can see from CNN iReport. European Command has more than 100 thousand in our command and we would love to hear from so many of them. Hopefully there aren't people out there who have to blog because it's a "course requirement." It should be about extending the writer's pen out there to so many who never have the chance. Take care! Kristi

Having everyone on the front lines tell their story could come back to bite you, and the military, in the arse. First off, what do you mean by "everyone on the front lines of Afghanistan?" I understand, from Marine friends of mine over there, none of them have access to social media or non-embedded media for that matter. Air Force front lines (rear echelon) is likely much different than U.S. Marine or Army front lines. I'm sure you can handle the OpSec part of this though, so I'll end with that. Blogging is nothing more than an extension of traditional marketing efforts in any industry or type of organization. Communication is the key word here and in deciding who and when to blog should first start off with the intended results that one wishes to obtain. Once you've determined what the mission is, then figure out who the best person would be to communicate with the rest of the world. Like anywhere else, your ranks are filled with varying levels of experience, education, and communication skills. If everyone gets a shot at telling the world about the U.S. European Command then you must anticipate that the message being broadcast is going to be just as varying and unique and the person broadcasting it. This could very well encourage a lot of confusion, skepticism, and lose credibility with those receiving the message. I'm a corporate sales and marketing professional in Silicon Valley, and would caution you to encourage feedback, communication, and an exchange of ideas from your officer and enlisted ranks but leave the outbound communications to a designated professional or a committee. We in the corporate world and general public would rather hear the official, correct, word than a bunch of scuttlebutt from varying, and unreliable, resources. Semper Fi

Thanks for your thoughts, Kris. Yes, I had to bite the bullet and proceed with our evaluation on the proven iPhone 3G. Maybe at some point we can upgrade to the 4G, if the improvements are significant.

Looking forward to see how implementing the iPhone will affect/change EUCOM's public affairs operations. The first question that popped in my mind after reading this is why not until this summer when the next version of the iPhone will come out? It is going to have multimedia and exchange capabilities that far exceed the 3GS. Nevertheless, this is yet another sign that EUCOM is determined to leverage the latest tools and technology to reach out to the public. Sorry that you could not relinquish the Blackberry as I am sure practically everyone in your office has their own personal cell phone which means some of you could carry around three mobile devices. Oh well, I guess it's just like Mick Jagger sang, "You can't always get what you want..." All in all, congrats on once again pushing the public affairs envelop.

What is "Social Medializing"? Great article!

Stuart, Social Medializing is my own made up word for what we do in the social media realm. Maybe it will make it’s way to the dictionary one of these days? LOL! Thanks for the comment.

Just wonder in a country that is in a WAR fine thing after the WAR hopefully peace come soon there ,after decades of civil war and war against the big global players by the way i know very well the story of this country from the late 1970s to now we life

Did that commentor really think that social media is some kind of mind control experiment?!?! The use of social media has been a techtonic change for the military public affairs community. It allows us to be in control of our own news, swift and honest. It is a powerful tool. I agree, we need to use it wisely. My mantra in running the Fort Huachuca Facebook page is that it is always about the people. Our military is made up of incredible people -- ordinary people doing extraordinary things. We are no longer the big Green Machine. We are a diverse organization made up individuals who are committed to working as a team. Showing that through social media is definitely something we need to continue. While some may not agree with the politics and policies of how our military is used, most support the people who serve.

Ray, Really good points. I think the answer to your question is trust and transparency and over time people like the commentor will hopefully come to find that we are just like them. We earn a living saving lives and defending freedom but we also raise families and take kids to basketball practice and read in the classrooms and care about the healthcare plan. We are just like every other American citizen who wants what's best for our country. All we want to do is tell our story and not just tell it, but share it and talk about it. And maybe they won't change their opinions, and that's ok too...because it's a free country and it takes all kinds to make the world go round, right?

Thanks, Paolo, for the comment. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Social media channels allow us to reach out to so many people who may not understand the military and who we are and why we do what we do. There's a lot more than what is shown in the media.

Definitely use social media!! Twitter and FB bring the military closer. People can better appreciate the challenges and the successes. And the servicemen and servicewomen can tell their stories.

In the spirit of "seeing yourself as others see you", I'd submit that people like the commenter object to Government entities getting into the social media realm because they perceive that bodies like DoD already control a lopsided portion of the public debate on issues. These folks see social media as the one place where "all voices are equal", and object to anything that they see upsetting that balance. So the real question is not "Should the U.S. military do social media?" That horse is out of the barn and it's not coming back. The question is, "How does the US military do social media in a way that keeps channels open to the maximum number of audiences?" We can't reach everybody - but we can target key audiences in a way that doesn't come across as "propagandizing."

Kristi: Kudos to you all for this experiment. I think your focus on conversation is right on the money. If you're looking for ideas, check out the NATO Secretary General's page at nato.int, and see what they're doing with his video blogs and embedded twitterstream. Good stuff.

Congrats on your assignment to EUCOM, Kristi! You're certainly joining a team of leaders when it comes to social media in the Combatant Commands. One concern I have with SocMed and PA in general for a geographic COCOM is the issue of language. As it stands, EUCOM is communicating with the English-speaking world. Before the website makeover early this year, there were language options for the static content so visitors could read the "who we are" stuff in Russian, German, Spanish, French, etc. If we're "stronger together", then we should recognize that, while our uniformed partners might speak English, the folks "back home" supporting them (or not) may not. Translation isn't fast or cheap, but EUCOM would be more engaging if it put some content out there in a few other tongues. The same goes for Social Media. Twitter's growing in Europe. Look at the percentage users (Spain, France, Germany) and consider adding an account or two to stream for those potential audiences. Your NATO counterpart up in Mons ought to be tweeting in French since it's the "other" official language of the organization. (NATO tweets too: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/kit-eaton/technomix/nato-tweets-too-twitter-gets-really-serious) Since France is a full partner in military operations again, there's a French public that may want to join the conversation. Every capability comes with a price tag, I know. You probably already have the skills resident somewhere in the organization, but its a matter or priorities. Maybe the COM can be your AO for the French tweet stream! My 2 euro cents. Good luck with the job and enjoy your time in Europe! Cheers, Scott

Scott, Pretty good 2 euro cents there! You are correct that we had some translated material on our old Web site before the revamp. I agree that it's about partnerships more than anything. MANY different languages out there. You brought up the number one issue, the money. WOW, is it expensive. And then you look out at the technology these days and folks can translate documents for free in seconds on sites like Babelfish. As a matter of fact, that's what I use to translate my German mail. It's not a perfect translation, by any means, but it's close enough. Anyone who can read this site, can also get it translated lickity-split. So, this isn't to say that your response didn't generate talk and another meeting for me (thanks for that :o)). Not sure that we'll be able to go wild on translations, but it is definitely worth discussing about putting some of the static translations back on the site. Danke on the input!!!! Kristi

Kristi, I've learned from my own PAO and personal experience with social media that people will care when you do the following: 1. Give them something they can't get anywhere else in the style they prefer. Pick one tone and audience for each medium or definable space in the medium that you're using, and stick with it. Don't try to mix stuff that will attract influential policy types (white papers, raw video of speeches or conferences) with chatty, visually arresting, EUCOM-is-cool stuff for a general audience. This is why I tend to prefer inhabiting existing spaces like Facebook, YouTube, LiveLeak, etc., because there's an established audience and tone that you can match. But you can make it work in the ".mil" domain, too. Just don't try to be everything to everyone in one location, you'll be nothing to anyone. 2. Satisfy their natural desire to be lazy consumers of information. Twitter is excellent in this regard. I'm sure dozens of news items about EUCOM cross your inbox everyday. Tweet some of the best content to your followers, including the better critical stuff, and they'll rely on you more to steer their information-seeking. That means you get more click-throughs on Tweets that link to your own content. 3. Provoke them. Tough to do this as a PAO, but you need the leeway to be a bit controversial or at least entertainingly conversational in any written communication. I'm only talking text here, because good raw photos and video are their own draw. But people won't stick with you for straight written information. Within minutes of when you're ready to release something (if not before), there will be someone who can pull from more sources who will write it up better than you can. Your strength is your position. Only you can answer questions like, What do EUCOM leaders think? Why should I care about something that's important to you that I otherwise wouldn't care about? Why should I agree with your command's perspective? Unless you have

Kristi, Based on what I've learned from the social media world, it seems to me like you're quickly becoming the expert: - You've responded to every post thus far, thus owning up to your promise to make your efforts two versus one-way communication - You’ve recognized that you get better feedback when you, as Dan said, ask for feedback - It's obvious that you understand that a blog is more engaging when you speak freely than when you simply post an article or "press release" on the blogsite - You’re (hopefully) going to continue with the engagement...and do it as much as possible. Although most people know about these tenets of social media, many seem to rarely follow them (myself included). Obstacles include command climate, lack of passion, competing requirements for time and potentially resources. It seems that you're on the good side of all of those things, not to say they aren't challenges too. In the end, at least for me, many obstacles are simply excuses. I just hope to be able to keep up with you! All the best! Jim

Ankara, tesekkür ederim, sagol! If I got that right, I'm trying to tell you thank you. It's amazing the translation sites out there to help us communicate! Your comments are excellent and definitely worth looking into. Every little bit helps and I appreciate you taking the time to help me! Stronger Together, definitely! Kristi

Tampa Sultan, Your "limited experience" is more than likely far greater than mine, so thank you for your thoughts! I agree that it's about engaging. Great point on the audiences as I've learned that you can't get an audience until you go out and seek them and learn about them -- and the more you learn, the better you can communicate. Thanks on the kudos! Kristi

Thanks, Jim! Agree with the obstacles you note. It's tough to stay ahead, but I'm working on it! Having just moved to Germany and still (after more than a month) not having internet connectivity in my house hinders my communication just a bit, but this too shall pass! I've got the passion and command climate. I can overcome the requirements vs time and resources - so I should be golden! Keep your toes crossed! Kristi

Ray, I'm have to say that I am very impressed with the Secretary General's corner. I LOVE the fact that he doesn't just tweet about his job, but he also reaches out to the average Joe (or should I say Joe the Plumber...LOL) through his everyday tweets! I loved his soccer tweets as we were happy here when Germany qualified for the World Championship tournament and especially when my U.S. team did! That type of tweeting will draw followers and fans! I will definitely be sharing this site with my web guru here and see what we can't do to steal some of these great ideas! Thanks so much for sharing! Kristi

I look forward to seeing what you are offering up on your blog/twitter/facebook and how it compares to traditional PA "reporting" of print stories, broadcast stories and photos. Social media is a new way of engaging with different audiences. Best of luck!

Quatto, EXCELLENT information, thank you for all this great stuff! And, I can relate to the lazy consumer of info. I love having the news pushed to me and I can read what I want when I want. Good call on the tone of the blog too. I'd like to keep this one light and interesting. No white papers here! Cheers!

Quatto really articulates well. Who is she/he? The third point, asking "what do EUCOM leaders think?", gets right at the heart of how effectively garnering an audience via social media and "chain of command" are almost antithetical. Social media leaves PAOs with a new outreach and feedback channel, maybe offering a bit more personality than a standard press release, but still operating within constraining command boundaries that will perforce limit audience size beyond a certain core of followers.

Dear Maj. Kristi Beckman, In Turkish Language, if someone come to new place for to work we say to her “HAYIRLI OLSUN!..” This short sentence mean covers during to your stay you take a success, in healthy, you will take a good finish your working period and turn back to your country with a new rank. My suggestion is for US EUCOM, different then existing social media and your work planning. Shortly my offer is: New one Twitter. (Very short name – My experience short name is giving to you use more letters.) What is different than other? Moderators are EU COM responsibly area representatives. How? From France army, Germany General Staff or Turkish General Staff etc. every country has a moderator for a common twitter. Twitter director and main chef moderator is Kristi Beckman. RULES: 1- Every country representatives, in the week for seven days only can three twit messages sent. (or less than three) This number can change only is that country or area has any common maneuvers. Common some activities. Or some important visitors. 2- Message contents are free. That mean is military activity, social activity, cultural, some times may be tourism and may some military web, their twit… address. Every country representatives will decide every week. May some articles from their commanders. That is it! If you like and your commander approval this idea, call to all USA EUCOM area countries military section and give then new common twit name and common password. STRONGER TOGETHER. Respectfully, Cafer Tanriverdi Ankara - Turkiye

Based on my limited experience w/ social, it seems that blogs, FB, Twitter, etc are simply NOT a good plaform to spread a message. These applications can, however, help "engage" audiences. The Web2.0 environment fosters interaction/conversation, not necessarily support. Success, then, should be determined by what EUCOM learns about audiences and less about what audiences learn about EUCOM. You're certainly starting out in a position of advantage -- in a crisis-free setting -- so kudos to fwd-leaning EUCOM.

Dan, Thank you so much for the feedback! Nice to know the tweets caught some attention. You've got a pretty difficult job as relocation and deployments can be extremely trying on families. Been there, done that! But so many of us have been there done that and you probably have a great support network by now. Thank YOU for what you do to make our lives less stressful! Keep in touch if you come up with any new tools to reach out to folks and I'll do the same for you! Kristi

The blog was great. Your call to action on Twitter is the reason I popped over to check it out. We use social media to speak to military families and assist them with Relocations, deployment stress, and other situations. We have found social media is best used when a response or feedback is requested or urged. It shouldn't be a one-way form of communication. I appreciate your service, thank you. Dan