Interesting statement by the Ministry of Defense on soldiers using social media:
“We are not here to gag people, because we acknowledge the ubiquity and significant benefits that social media offers to people and the MoD.”
The warning comes at a good time, almost a bit late in the game, now that soldiers have been using a host of social media to stay in touch with their families and even the media. Now that not one, but two congressman have been caught with poor social media discretions, it’s about time for a social media boot camp for government!
Back in 2004, the military began cracking down on personal journals maintained by soldiers serving in Iraq. Some still blog, but are not sure if they will get into trouble, as this NPR story, reveals.
This April, in the wake of Wikileaks, a Pentagon official, Doug Wilson talked about how “technology — and particularly technology at the intersection of national security — has outpaced the policy.”
My reaction was: Still? You would think thee are more policy wonks than tech people in government.
It’s not just the defense folks who have realized that policy has always been lagging as technology zips ahead. States have been facing the same problem. A national survey of social media in government found that
- Two-thirds of survey respondents lack enterprise policies addressing social media
- One-third of the states responding have enterprise policy standards,and are in the process of developing these
“The United States supports an Internet with end-to-end interoperability, which allows people worldwide to connect to knowledge, ideas, and one another through technology that meets their needs.”
All this big picture stuff is well and good. Someone needs to put our elected officials in a room give them a 101 course in using digital channels. Their DIY method of using social media is turning out to be one of DYI –Damaging Yourself Irreparably.
Hoipolloireport 