I had the opportunity last August at the American Legion Convention in Louisville to hear Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff speak. During his talk one thing kept on ringing clear to me, Mullen wanted the public to have as much knowledge of the current conflicts as possible so they could make an informed decision on where they personally stood. This was refreshing in that Mullen wanted the public to have access to all the information at hand, both good and bad.
Now Mullen has blueprinted a new social media strategy for himself that is stunning in its scope and outreach. I can think of no other military or public official that has such a keen understanding of the value of social media and citizen outreach. It is a lesson in openness and transparency that we as PIO’s should take note of.
The Department of Defense’s Joint Chiefs of Staff office plans to bolster its use of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to communicate its activities publicly under the direct directive of the Chairman. Talk about a hands on approach!
Mullen has both a Facebook Page and a Twitter account, and both have helped him increase engagement with the public, according to the newly released Chairman’s 2010 Social Media Strategy.
This engagement in the past has usually come to social media after news out of the Joint Chiefs office occurs, and is distributed in press releases, the Joint Chiefs Web site and the Pentagon Channel.
This sort of commitment is not enough, according to the media strategy, which outlines a four-tiered plan in which Mullen will change the way he uses social media.
To better engage with the public, Mullen will begin having interactive conversations with people following him on Twitter and post more personal content about himself.
Specifically, the strategy says that Mullen will begin sharing in his tweets information about books he’s reading or what he did during time off on his weekends. This will help foster more of a two-way conversation between Mullen and the public.
Mullen also sets goals for the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s social-media activity that should be reached by September 2010. Among them are to send two personal tweets a month, develop video capability for the chairman’s trips and events so video can be posted on Facebook, and to modernize the office’s podcast.
As the second tier of the plan, Mullen will align the content created for social media with his priorities for his position and ensure that his entire public affairs staff is involved in creating content for Facebook and Twitter. This will include adopting an attitude to be “iPad and Kindle friendly,” knowing that more people will be using these devices to read online content in the future.
The Joint Chiefs office also wants to use social media as a driver of discussions and public conversations, not merely as an echo chamber for other forms of Internet content. To do this, Mullen plans to expand his online presence by choosing more social-media sites to participate in.
He also has set goals for the next six months to increase page views for the Joint Staff website, boost the number of friends he has on Facebook and increase the number of followers he has on Twitter.
Kudos Admiral Mullen.
Also on The Fire PIO…
- Even the Walls have Ears – November 24, 2010
- Some Simplistic thoughts on Social Media – December 17, 2010
- 360 Degree Social Media – August 19, 2010
- Should we use social media as a crisis or emergency unfolds? – November 9, 2010
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