Uncle Sam Wants You ... to weigh in on new media policy

the Department of Defense has recently launched a blog (discussed in several articles) to seek input from the public as the department seeks to develop new policies concerning all things new media. According to the new DOD blog, it's purpose is to seek out "insight from various Defense interest groups and think tanks, including Veterans groups, industry groups and individuals who have insights they can share regarding how Web 2.0 capabilities can be used to transform how the Defense Department operates." Posts on the blog have dramatically slowed (looks like the last one was 13 Aug) - not sure what that's all about - but the posts that are there have a decent number of comments. Clearly this issue is one that is of interest to many. Weigh in on the discussion over on their blog where their clever slogan is: "Collaborating about collaboration, Soliciting public input though Open Government".

Also, Patrick Thomas, a doctoral student at Kent State University, left a comment on a recent post here on this blog requesting participants for a survey he is conducting as part of his research into military blogging. Specifically he's looking into "blogging practices—how and why they blog, and their perceptions of their blogs’ audiences" and is "interested in what military blogs add to a growing body of research on the importance of social media (like blogs) in people’s everyday lives." I recently completed his survey - it took less than 5 minutes. If you are a military blogger, I encourage you to take the few minutes to help him out in his research. He's got a consent statement left as part of his comments that he asks you read before taking the survey.

Obviously slowing down on the blog ...

To my faithful readers, you've likely noticed that I haven't been posting much lately. That's due to a couple of reasons:
* been really busy with other stuff
* the academic project is completed and my brain is not as focused on this topic as it once was
* I feel like there had been some great discussion about ideas here but I'm short on new ideas to kick around

My intention is not to stop blogging here ... but you can expect that the posts will be much less regular. I will likely reserve posts for new ideas that I hear about (or the few that pop into my own head).

The comments that have been left along the way over the past six months or so have been extremely helpful personally as I try to decide just how I really feel about Soldiers blogging. Many of you have brought up points and counter-points that I would not have otherwise considered. Others pointed me toward some other great thinking and writing on the subject. Thanks to all of you. The project that began as something of an experiment turned into something extremely beneficial - personally, academically, and professionally.

I hope that when I do post in the future, the discussion will be just as useful as it has been in the past. Who knows, maybe someone out there in a position to change the Army's policies toward new media has been positively affected by the conversation you took part in. I hope so.

Results are in: Readers are split about blogging under own name

57% percent of respondants (14 total this time) said Soldiers should blog under their own name. This is certainly not a whopping majority, so I'll take the response to suggest that we're split on whether or not Soldiers should use their own name when blogging or should continue to use creative aliases.

Here's my take on this issue: If the Soldier is blogging about military related issues he should use his rank and position at a minimum, but if he's blogging about other topics there's no need to do so. The reason I believe this is twofold. First, when talking about military topics, one of the best reasons for Soldiers to blog is because of their experience and credibility. Therefore, the Soldier should use rank and position (maybe even a quick background) to support his comments. On the other hand, there are rules governing what Soldiers can say in uniform - specifically about political leadership - and if blogging about any of these topics, the Soldier is wise to remain just "Joe Civilian" to avoid the risk of violating rules.

Just as a Soldier should not show up at a political rally in uniform, so too should he not blog about a political topic on a milblog. But if that Soldier were to be interviewed on the local news about a recent military exercise or his experiences on deployment, he should proudly wear his uniform. So too should a Soldier make it clear that he's a Soldier when blogging about similar topics.

The details if you're interested...

Should Soldiers blog under their own name?

• 57% (8) Yes
• 43% (6) No

A high-level unit blog - another GO joins the ranks of pro-bloggers!

Add MG Oates to the growing list that includes LTG Caldwell, LTG Vanantwerp, and BG Abrams: GOs in the Blogosphere! Through a milbogging.com link, I was made aware of the Task Force Mountain blog started and maintained by the 10th Mtn Div CG, MG Oates. If you haven't seen it yet, go take a look. It's a pretty good example of what we can do to more effectively make use of new media. The home page doesn't look too dissimilar to a typical Army unit page - news clips, useful links, etc. What makes it unique, though, is a link to the Mountain Sound Off Blog.

Just a quick glance through the posts (really, questions asked by MG Oates) shows that a good number of folks are responding to this new form of communication. Some of the discussions already have over 100 comments posted! Responding to concerns that such a forum can negate the chain of command in an interview with Danger Room, MG Oates said "It is not in fact going around the chain of command; it allows us to connect to the chain of command in ways we have not been able to experience before."

Similar concerns were raised by faculty at USMA when the Dean and Commandant both began an internal forum for cadets to post concerns and questions. For the most part, posts remained professional and respectful, and both the Dean and Comm showed they valued the cadets participation in the dialogue by personally responding and posting follow-ups to actions that were taken if something needed to be fixed. In time, these forums were accepted and frequented by faculty - and it's arguable that it improved internal dialogue among all. The main difference between these USMA forums and the Task Force Mountain one is firewalls: the USMA forums were accessible only within the USMA network, the TF Mountain one is accessible by anyone!

Another interesting piece of MG Oates' foray into Web 2.0 stuff is the Lima Charlie Chat Room - a scheduled time when MG Oates chats online with Soldiers and they can ask whatever they want. You can read a transcript of the first chat on 4 Jan and judge for yourself if Soldiers are asking honest questions and the CG providing honest answers. I think most will be pleasantly surprised. But, you can also judge if there are potential "security violations" in there ... this is still the most challenging piece of all this new media for the Army.

One thing that I think would make this TF Mountain web page even better would be to provide links to blogs from its Soldiers. This could lead to much more traffic for the Soldiers blogs, therefore more of the "daily life" stories could make it out into circulation, and the blogs could have more positive effect. Some think that by doing so, however, would lead the Soldiers to edit themselves and not post as honestly. A fair concern, I think, but in this case, perhaps worth the risk to increase the audience!

So, what do you think? Is this TF Mountian blog a good idea? An open blog for dialogue about internal and external issues? What about the chat room (and posting the transcripts of "internal communications")? In the military, does this sort of thing usurp the chain of command? Or, as MG Oates contends, is it just one more way to communicate with your subordinates? Curious to hear what you think.

New poll: can Soldiers blogs have strategic effect?

What do you think? Can they? Do they currently?

Strategic impact of Soldier blogs

Back in November, I posted some thoughts about how Soldier blogging fits into the fundamentals of information. Now, I'd like to investigate how it meshes into strategic communication principles. Some may think it's a bit of a stretch to take the blog of an individual Soldier and expect to gain anything strategic from it. But hear me out ... and weigh in on it!

Strategic communication (SC) is a term for which it is difficult to find an agreed upon definition. Joint Publication 5-0 defines it as “focused US Government efforts to understand and engage key audiences in order to create, strengthen, or preserve conditions favorable for the advancement of US Government interests, policies, and objectives through the use of coordinated programs, plans, themes, and products synchronized with the actions of all instruments of power.” The same publication goes on to state that proper “SC planning establishes unity of US themes and messages, emphasizes success, accurately confirms or refutes external reporting on US operations, and reinforces the legitimacy of US goals.” (p II-2)

The Report by the Defense Science Board Task Force on Strategic Communication describes SC as “a sustained and coherent set of activities that include: understanding identities, attitudes, behaviors, and cultures, … advising policymakers, diplomats, and military commanders on the public opinion and communication implications of their strategic and policy choices, … engaging in a dialogue of ideas, … influencing attitudes and behavior through communication strategies, … and measuring the impact of activities.” (pp 10-11) Halloran articulates the ideas of SC in less formal language when he writes that SC “is a way of persuading other people to accept one’s ideas, policies, or courses of action. … [It] means persuading allies and friends to stand with you, … neutrals to come to your side, … adversaries that you have the power and the will to prevail over them, … [and] the nation’s citizens to support the policies of their leaders so that a national will is forged.” (p 6)

Taken together, these definitions and descriptions of strategic communication suggest that SC is not something that is only done by the highest levels of government. Additionally, they infer that SC is about much more than simply crafting and transmitting specific messages. Finally, they all articulate the importance of dialogue in communication; and this dialogue requires understanding of your audience, a willingness to listen, not just speak, and trust from those to whom we wish to communicate. With this understanding, new media use by individual Soldiers offers a unique way to accomplish some SC objectives.

To further explain how the military can implement SC, the Department of Defense published a guide describing the nine principles of strategic communication. These principles are: leadership-driven, credible, dialogue, unity of effort, responsive, understanding, pervasive, results-based, and continuous. By examining each of these principles, we can see how Soldiers engaging new media – specifically blogging – can serve to accomplish SC.

Three of the principles, leadership-driven, unity of effort, and results-based, require leadership action. Leadership-driven means that leaders must control the process; they must “place communication at the core of everything they do.” In this light, it is reasonable that leaders would develop policies to guide their Soldiers when they write blog entries and these leaders would also educate and equip their Soldiers to enable them to be effective blog writers. Unity of effort implies vertical and horizontal integration and coordination. In order to achieve this, Soldiers must be empowered and trusted to communicate via new media. Leaders also have an important role to “coordinate and synchronize capabilities and instruments of power within their area of responsibility.” Soldiers blogging is a new form of power that leaders now have at their disposal. SC is results-based in that it must focus on specific outcomes and then communicate to all in the organization the target audiences and themes they wish to communicate. Just as talking points are provided to Soldiers on patrol in case they are approached by the media, these talking points can be taken into consideration when Soldiers voluntarily approach the new media.

Credibility is built on trust, accuracy, and consistency. Over time, it is quite possible that bloggers can develop credibility – in fact, it has been found that individual Soldiers are generally accepted as more credible than professional spokespeople.(p 13) Concerning understanding of cultures, since the primary audience for most milbloggers is the domestic audience, there is not much concern about this principle. Dialogue is a principle that is well-suited for application in the blogosphere, since that is one of the primary benefits of new media: a back-and-forth dialogue between potentially many individuals. We understand the importance of the pervasive communication when it comes to Soldiers on patrol. There has been much discussion about the “strategic corporal” and the impact that decisions in combat of very junior service members can have in the strategic environment. That same junior service member can have a similar impact by engaging the public through blogging. To be responsive, information must be timely and presented to people who are interested in it. The social aspect of blogging enables better responsiveness as Soldiers can provide tailored information to their regular readers or post comments to other specific blogs. The final principle is concerns the continuous nature of SC: it is not something that we just do at specific times and ignore it the rest of the time. Blogs are particularly well-suited to this principle as they are often maintained on a weekly – or sometimes daily – basis, and can therefore be continuously engaging their audience on issues important to the Army.

Our current enemy has been particularly adept at using new media to their advantage. Many have written about this in an effort to energize better use of these emerging internet technologies by the United States. For example, Josten writes that “today’s form of terrorism is essentially strategic communication in the purest definition – message and action – utilizing the global communications network more to influence than inform.” (p 19) BG Eder expresses the concern that “many, especially in the military, are worried that our enemies have already occupied and dominated the infosphere battlespace.” Finally, Kimmange and Ridolfo write that “Sunni insurgents in Iraq and their supporters worldwide are exploiting the Internet to pursue a massive and far-reaching media campaign … [and] the popularity of online Iraqi Sunni insurgent media reflects a genuine demand for their message in the Arab world.” (p 3) It is clear that today’s terrorist networks have the advantage of having made effective use of internet capabilities before we have. This does not suggest that this particular battle is lost. Rather, by modifying our policies and seeking new and creative ways to engage new media, the Army can take back this piece of virtual terrain and again seize the advantage.

Results are in: Most believe milblogs are pro-military biased

The results from the most recent poll corroborate what I'm finding in the survey of milblogs that I'm currently in the midst of: the overwhelming majority (62%) of the people who took this poll believe that most milblogs are at least slightly biased in favor of the military. From my trolling, there are a few milblogs out there that are more negative, but they are certainly the minority.

Thanks to the 16 of you who voted - a new Soldiers in the Blogosphere polling record!

Do you think most milblogs are biased?

• 18% (3) Absolutely! Most are pro-military and/or pro-war
• 62% (10) Yes, they are somewhat pro-military and/or pro-war
• 12% (2)No. Most are quite neutral.
• 6% (1) Yes, most are somewhat negative about the military or war
• 0% (0) Absolutely! Most are very negative about the military or war

So I ask: is this a problem? Is it somehow bad that most milblogs provide a positive outlook when discussing military matters in general or the wars specifically? Is this an important aspect of achieving balanced information when considering that most people believe that the mainstream media has a negative bias for the wars specifically?

I personally don't find this to be troubling as long as the positive outlook is based on facts. The idea of truthful information is paramount to creating and maintaining credibility. Interesting stories can be told, compelling drama can be generated, and readers will keep coming back for the next installment if the Soldier is credible.

Toward more guidance Soldiers could use ...

Thanks to the Unofficial Coast Guard Blog for pointing me towards a couple interesting pieces about corporate blogs. While the comments on the posts are geared toward the civilian world and "official" blogs, the suggestions are really appropriate to anyone blogging. In this case, I think they should certainly be included in any training for Soldiers who are interested in entering the blogosphere.

The first post is on thenextweb.com which stated, first, that only 1 in 6 people find corporate blogs trustworthy. I'll ask some more questions about perceptions toward official military blogs some other time. For the time being, suffice it to say that this, at its roots, is a problem with credibility! So, how then do the authors suggest we can improve this? Consider this comment about corporate (i.e. produced by the PR department) blogs:

the pieces of personal PR are often isolated, living a life within the .com domain of the company. No outgoing trackbacks, social media presence, or articles about phenomena outside the safe haven of the offices.

Turn this around and there are several suggestions for authors to consider:

• don't link just to your own blog or others in your "world" - in other words, use variety
• allow and show trackbacks - it allows your readers to follow tangents of your stories
• have variety in your posts - something beyond the "safe haven" of Soldiering? Okay, the analogy doesn't fit, but the idea still does ... keep variety in your topics

Another bit from this post that is worth commenting on is:

Teach a PR person the fine art of community management 2.0. Give him a free pass for Twittering, Digging, Stumbling, and blogging all the day

Replace "PR person" with "Soldier" and you've got a good suggestion applicable to this project. Again, perhaps its a bit of a stretch to apply this completely to Soldiers - I'm certainly not advocating allowing them to blog all day! Nor am I convinced of the usefulness of Twitter from the "war for public opinion" perspective. But, the most important part of that quote is "teach" - in order to help many of our Soldiers be effective bloggers, we need to teach them about it. I'm still working on ideas for how best to do this education thing ... more to follow on that subject.

The final bit of that short post (I believe these comments my be longer than the original post, but anyway ...) that is worth highlighting is:

Oh, and don’t forget to have a look at some fine examples

This is nothing new. It's been mentioned on this very blog by Tristan_Abbey:

I would recommend training by example: put together a portfolio of half a dozen pieces posted by folks like Michael Yon, Bill Roggio at the Long War Journal, and others. This way the soldiers can see what effective blog posts look like, how they are written, and what kind of content they contain.

The other post linked from CGB is to Web Strategy by Jeremiah which discusses various attributes of the best blogs. I found these to be not earth-shattering, but written well, simply, and applicable to guidance that can eventually be put in the hands of Soldier bloggers, so I'll reprint them (edited) here. For the full list and a way to diagnose your blog as "great", "good", or "horrible" check out Jeremiah's original post.

1. Writing style: Written in a human voice
2. Topics: Discusses the lifestyle (or workstyle) of actual customers
3. Humility: Admits when wrong and discusses in open the short comings of the company and product and demonstrates in public how it will be improved
4. Linking Behavior: Links out to other sources, even competitors or critics as well as the next listed
5. Customer Inclusion: Allows for customers to guest blog, or includes snippets of their experiences
6. Dialog: Comments enabled and published instantly
7. Comment Moderation: Comments (other than spam or off topic) are allowed, including direct disagreements
8. Frequency:While more isn’t always better, having a steady rhythm of content is important

Obviously, that list is tailored for folks in the business world, not in the military. Regardless, the ideas still apply. I found items 1 and 2 to be exactly what many of you have said attracts you to milblogs - they're written by, and in the voice of, a Soldier on patrol and they contain personal stories you won't read anywhere else. Words like product and customers could easily be replaced with mission and public and the suggestion would apply to a Soldier.

On the topic of useful tips for effective blogging, you may also want to take a look at:

• 7 essential tips
• ID's 6 Commandments
• Mike's axioms for blogging

One of the main products that I intend to produce from this project is a one or two page "smart sheet" that would be aimed at helping a Soldier enter the blogosphere for the first time and begin to tell his or her story. Any other ideas that you have for things that should (or should not!) be included on such a product, please leave them here. Also, if you've come across (or created!) any useful lists of dos and donts of blogging or ways to increase interest and readership in a blog, those would be sincerely appreciated. Thanks!

Are milblogs biased?

One of the main complaints that I've often leveled at the main-stream media is that they are biased: negative stories, against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, liberal, etc. When we toured the CNN studios several weeks ago, we asked the executives about this perception of bias. They danced around the accusations of liberal- and conservative-bias. One did admit that they are biased toward conflict by discussing the elements of a good television news story. The best stories are the ones with dramatic footage of something out-of-the-ordinary happening. The best stories are about topics that are somewhat controversial or, at least, unusual. The best stories are the ones that engage people - they excite emotions in some way.

Similar elements could be listed about what makes the best milblog post, the post that gets the most interest and readership. These stories appear to be the ones with the most personal elements - a dramatic telling of a patrol from an infantryman's perspective, a memorial post to a fallen comrade, or the joy of returning home. Many of the most popular milblogs also include photos or videos that add to the emotional content of the post. But are these posts biased? Do most milbloggers write because they're against the wars and have found blogging as an outlet? Or are most milbloggers pro-military and pro-war and seek to use their blogs to balance what we percieve as the negatively-biased main-stream media with positive blog entries? That's the subject of the current poll (look to the top right of this webpage). Please weigh in with your opinion about any bias you percieve from milblogs you read. Thanks!

GOs in the Blogosphere

I am very encouraged by a recent post on BlackFive - information about the Army's new training manual, FM 7-0, and a request for feedback on the newly released manual. This is a significant development because this appeal for dialogue did not occur on official Army websites but on one of the most popular milblog sites! This suggests that the Army is certainly understanding the important role that milblogs are playing in modern communication.

Equally as significant as where this request for feedback appeared is from whom the request was generated - BG Abe Abrams, the Deputy Commanding General (Training) for the US Army Combined Arms Center. In addition, BG Abrams did not stop with the post. He engaged in dialogue in the comments to the post with several folks asking questions about the manual and the new ARFORGEN system of managing our Army forces. I'm impressed with this leader's engagement in the blogosphere - it's a great sign that more senior leaders are grasping the reality of new media and seeking ways to better engage our audiences through it.

This is likely just one example of many more to come of the Combined Arms Center, under the leadership of LTG Caldwell (a firm believer in the power of new media).

I encourage all of you to take a look at the new manual and participate in the discussion about it. Like all Army manuals, it is always open for comment and is in a constant state of revision - so share your ideas about it. I also encourage you to take a look at the blogs on the Combined Arms Center's website (you'll have to accept their very basic rules). There is interesting discussion on a variety of topics that may be of interest to you.

Are unit blogs a good idea?

There are a growing number of them out there: blogs created by military organizations (or businesses, for that matter) that serve to provide command information to the public or enable internal communication. These are often seen as outputs of propaganda at worst and, at best, providing no new insightful information. It seems to me that we are just barely scratching the surface of what could be and have some ground to make up in the perception arena.

One idea that has recently come to mind (partly inspired by Prof. Lawson's article) was for a unit-level blog. This blog would be:

• maintained by a responsible and effective writer within the organization (whether that's a company, battalion, or brigade - higher than brigade and we lose some of the "muddy boots" perspective)
• provide information similar to what is often provided to families through family readiness channels but would be tailored for the broader potential audience
• maintain a blogroll of all blogs of Soldiers in the organization. This would provide one way for the Army to keep up with many blogs and could provide interested readers with a broad perspective on the activities of the particular unit

By maintaining such a blog at the unit level, readers would be presented with a broader perspective than they currently can get by looking at somewhat random individual blogs, it could significantly assist in the distribution of stories that otherwise don't get told or are buried in other press outlets, and potentially could serve as a link between official statements through traditional PA channels and the very unofficial stories told by milbloggers.

Is this idea way off mark or is there merit to it? I'm interested in your thoughts.

Fill the gap: milbloggers roles in communicating with the nation

By this point in my reading, research, and dialogue with the readers of this blog, I’m now completely convinced that we (the Army) must do more in the blogosphere. Really, we need to do more with new media in general, but for this post I’m restricting comment to blogs. Knowing that we must do more, there has been some valuable discussion about how we can encourage and educate Soldiers to effectively engage the blogosphere. Some useful tips to consider when blogging have been offered; justification for Soldiers’ blogs has been provided in light of the fundamentals of information espoused by the public affairs community; and discussion about the need for credibility has begun.

I turn my attention in this post to some things we should encourage Soldiers to blog about: what I’ll call “filling the gap.”

What gap I am talking about? The gap between what the media thinks the American public wants to hear and what the American public actually wants to hear. Contained in a book we read for class here about military-media relations were survey results that supported what I’d been thinking/guessing for a long time – main stream media is a bit out of sync with main street America. The book (The Military-Media Relationship 2005), a report by the McCormick Tribune Foundation, is based on surveys conducted of the public, military members, and members of the media as well as round table discussion involving representatives of both the military and media. The discussion and several graphs (which are referenced below) provide valuable insight into what blog topics may be the most interesting to the American public. If the Army is to encourage Soldiers to blog it is the following items/topics that should be specifically encouraged.

1. Stories about the rebuilding effort. Charts 1A and 1B (p 50, 51) clearly show that the media overestimates the public interest in coverage of terrorist activities and even more strikingly underestimates the public’s desire for stories about the reconstruction effort. Knowing this, Soldiers can fill a significant need – tell stories about their involvement in reconstruction. There are many engineer Soldiers out there today rebuilding schools and hospitals (and have been doing so for quite some time!) There are many medical Soldiers deployed right now who are helping to provide needed care to many who haven’t had such care in quite some time. There are many civil affairs Soldiers who have been involved in helping to establish local governmental organizations and are helping demonstrate the legitimacy of the Iraqi government. These Soldiers need to have their stories told – and main stream media isn’t doing it to the degree that the American public desire. So let’s blog about our experiences! (By-the-way, Chart 1B also shows that the public wants to hear more stories about individual Soldiers – and what better source than the Soldiers themselves through their blogs.)

2. Positive stories about events in Iraq and Afghanistan. To begin this discussion, it is clear that stories that are not inherently positive must not be spun into something they are not. Nor can negative stories be ignored or brushed under the carpet. The American public absolutely has a right to know the full costs of the endeavor we are currently engaged in. However, Chart 13 (p 70) shows that while 68% of the media believes they provide balanced information, 70% the public sees the coverage as predominately negative! So, what can Soldiers do about this? Provide their own coverage of the many positive events that are occurring on a daily basis while remaining real and fair about what it is really like to serve as a Soldier in these current wars. This blends nicely with item 1 above – stories about reconstruction efforts are inherently positive.

3. Demonstrate willingness to share our stories and be truthful when doing so. Nothing will be more self-defeating than to be perceived as dishonest whether when speaking to the media or writing our own blogs. The American public’s perception is that the military is willing (and does) provide inaccurate information to the media – Chart 12 (p 69) shows this. Charts 8A and 8B (p 62, 63) infer that the media believes the military to be restrictive in providing access and that officers are not encouraged to speak with reporters. Extrapolating from this a bit, I suggest that blogs provide an outlet to help change this perception. While a Soldier blogging is not the same as engaging face-to-face with reporters, it is still a way to show our interest in being open and honest when disclosing information about events we’ve been a part of.

If the traditional media is not going to provide the information and stories that the public wants, using new media is the best way I can think of to do so. There are a couple possible outcomes if we can be successful at doing this. First, traditional media sources will pick up on the stories being published on blogs (as many examples over the past few years prove they’ll do). Secondly, if there is a preponderance of these stories in the blogosphere and they’re getting read, shared, and linked to then perhaps traditional sources will see the appetite that exists and will begin to publish more such stories on their own initiative. The first outcome I’m hopeful would happen; the second I’m a bit more doubtful about (quiet the cynic in me!) but would be very pleased to see occur.

So, I’m curious about what you think of these ideas. Am I naïve? Would Soldiers latch on to such guidance? Or, do most Soldiers do this anyway through their blogs? Leave your comments here and enter the discussion.

Results are in: 3 out of 5 blog to keep family and friends updated

Last week's poll asked what prompted you to enter the blogosphere. Most (3 out of 5 ... yes, only 5 responses this week, again quite unscientific) said the primary reason was to keep family and friends updated while deployed or out of the country for other reasons. 40% (2 people)said that is was because they felt strongly about a topic. I certainly realize these polls are not scientific and are, therefore, not valid for adding to the academic discussion (congratulations, by-the-way, to the Milblogging.com webmaster - The World's Coolest Dad!). They are, however, a source for some commentary ... and, perhaps a way to generate some more discussion. Thanks again to the participants -- now PASS THIS LINK ON SO MORE PEOPLE WILL VOTE IN THE FUTURE!!

Despite the very low sample size, the results corroborate what I'm finding as I survey milblogs. The majority, so far, exist (at least at first) simply to share stories with folks back home. Several of the top ranking milblogs then morphed into something a bit more - reaching a broader audience. But, even those that have grown large readerships remain primarily focused on sharing accounts of events that the author has been involved in. These personal accounts are what seem to attract many people to milblogs - stories that they can't get from main stream media. This also, by-the-way, matches the reasons that you stated you read milblogs - to get the Soldiers' sides of the story and their opinions about it.

As I see it, there's not much the Army can do to change the motivation for Soldiers to try their hand at blogging - it's not something we can (or, admittedly, want) to do. However, for those that are interested in a way to keep family and friends up-to-date as they're deployed, a blog offers a great method! And, importantly, the Army should do a much better job at educating them to blog as effectively as possible because, unlike e-mail or an old-fashioned letter home, blogs are immediately accessible by anyone who wants to read. Therefore, every Soldiers blog is a piece of the Army's communications whether we like to admit that or not. Not that every Soldiers blog should be controlled by the Army (in fact, as discussed previously, even the perception of control detracts from the credibility.) But just as we owe it to our Soldiers to train them to be successful with the various weapon systems they use, we owe it to them to train/educate them to be as successful as possible using new media.

The detailed (?) results from the poll, if you're interested ...

What triggered your entry into the blogosphere?

• 3 (60%) Wanted to keep family/friends updated while I was deployed/away.
• 0 (0%) Wasn't satisfied with what was out there about the war(s), so I started my own blog to write about it.
• 0 (0%) I enjoyed online discussions so started a blog to control one.
• 0 (0%) Really enjoy writing, so a blog seemed like an obvious thing for me to start.
• 2 (40%) Felt strongly about a topic (wars or otherwise) and wanted to write about it.
• 0 (0%) Just wanted a place to rant, share my opinions, etc.

The benefits and enjoyment of blogging ...

... are becoming apparent to me. When I began this blog, it was primarily a way for me to become acquainted with the process, language, and basics - since I had never blogged (or even commented on blogs) before - but it has quickly become much more than that. I am pleasantly surprised that between 24 Nov and today - less than 2 weeks - over 100 unique visitors have stopped by this blog (161 since 19 Nov!). The tracking process that I use doesn't show me how long they stayed or how much they read, but just the fact that so many people were at least interested in this topic is very encouraging. What's even more encouraging is that these folks are accessing the blog from 14 different countries! Amazing! Of course, that probably doesn't mean that there are 14 different nationalities - some are likely US service members serving overseas - but one German public affairs officer has left some comments.

This interest is very encouraging. It is clear that many people are interested in how the Army can make better use of blogs and new media in general. I'm encouraged by the variety of comments (from service members, retirees, spouses, and professors of communication) all of which shine a unique light on this subject and all of which provide valuable insights.

One of the benefits of blogging that I have read about and some of you have alluded to in the comments is the community aspect - the interaction. That has already become clear to me through this experience ... and this blog has only been in the blogosphere for about one month. In that month, I've learned a tremendous amount, been pointed in new directions for material to dig into, and gathered valuable insights into how the Army can approach Soldier blogging to greater effect. Lets keep the discussion going ... please continue to share your insights and opinions as well as any other work that's been done that may assist in making this project as useful as possible.

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by to peruse the discussion going on. Thanks to all of you who participate in the weekly polls - the feedback provided through those help me focus my thoughts and opinions about blogging. Thanks even more to those of you who have taken the time to weigh in on the discussion. Several of you have provided valuable insight into milblogging and have linked me to material that will have a great impact on this project. Thanks especially to the 8 of you who have chosen to "follow" this blog! Your interest is greatly appreciated. If you're not a "follower" but are interested in this discussion, please consider becoming a "follower" (look to the right).

I look forward to continuing to learn from you and, together, developing valuable suggestions for the Army to more effectively put "Soldiers in the Blogosphere."

Thanks, Milblogging.com!

Thanks, JP, for posting the information about this blog and the project it represents. As I said in that blurb, the more people involved in this discussion, the better. Thanks to those who have already participated in the interaction. I am really enjoying getting your feedback as I develop my ideas about this subject.

Also, if you are a milblogger and have not yet registered your blog with milblogging.com, I encourage you to do so. It's a great site and already has over 2000 milblogs registered - is yours one of them?

Another also, nominations for the best military blog (and other blog categories, for that matter) of the year are being taken over at weblog awards. Consider nominating the blog you appreciate most. Nominations close this Friday - so don't wait any longer!

The last also, if you haven't done so, I also recommend that you register your blog with Technorati. If you're unfamiliar with this site, they track comments about and links to your blog for you and show you how your blog stacks up among the millions of blogs registered.

Soldiers would consider "talking points" when blogging

The results of this blog's first very unscientific survey are in ... Soldiers are willing to consider their commands "talking points" when blogging. Thanks to the 8 (yeah, before this is a legitimate finding, probably need to have a larger survey sample) who took the poll. Results of the poll were:

As a Soldier blogger, would you consider your command's "talking points" when writing?

• 0 (0%) Absolutely, I'd find ways to incorporate them
• 5 (62%) I'd consider them, can't promise I'd incorporate them
• 1 (12%) I'd ignore them and write just as I do now
• 2 (25%) It would irritate me; like they were trying to control me

While this is an encouraging finding, the fact that 25% said that providing talking points would irritate them is concerning. This leads me to believe that should a command decide to provide talking points to their Soldiers for this purpose, they should clearly explain the purpose of them and make certain that their Soldiers understand they are under no pressure to incorporate them. I also wonder if Soldiers are irritated when provided talking points when out on patrol. My instinct says "no", because they likely understand the need in that circumstance. We'd need to help them understand the need (value) when blogging - to provide big picture understanding. The last thing we want is for Soldiers to feel that they are being manipulated. Just as bad, we don't want the public (the readers of milblogs) to believe that Soldiers are simply puppets; their credibility depends on their individualism when blogging.

Of course, we should use caution when extrapolating much from this poll - given the very small sample. The next poll is up (look to the right). Please consider voicing your opinion through the poll. Thanks!

The Army is closer to encouraging Soldier blogs than I thought ...

Somehow in the midst of things, I totally missed this important Army News Service headline from 30 Sep:

Secretary of Army Encourages MilBloggers

Wow! If encouragement truly is going to happen, the Secretary is certainly a great place to start! A few comments from the article bear repeating here:

"We've got to embrace every form of media, and this new medium - and particularly blogging, for many people - has replaced traditional media as a way to get news," said Geren. "And not only to get news, but to educate themselves, the back and forth that blogs offer. So I see it as an addition of what we're doing, and a mechanism to reach some people who you don't reach at all through so-called traditional media."

....

Bergner [Maj. Gen., previous spokesperson for Multi-National Force-Iraq] offered his perspective on what bloggers bring to the table that makes their perspective so critical.

"It's the personal aspect of what bloggers are able to convey," said Bergner. "No one can do it with the same personal insights, the perspective, and the texture that comes with those dialogues. That is what is so meaningful for the American people and so
important for the Army because all of us want Soldiers to be able to tell their story, like only a Soldier can do."

It's clear that our senior leadership is getting it - they see the value in milblogs for many of the reasons that have been kicked around on this blog. The next challenge is getting the lower levels of leadership to get it, accept it, and make it happen. Knowing that our senior leaders think it is important is the most important first step. But, besides just saying we encourage blogging, what actions can we take that will actually encourage Soldiers to blog - in other words, what will we do to make it more than positive rhetoric? What kind of measures could we use to encourage Soldiers who otherwise would be fearful of blogging to go ahead and give it a try. Right now, my thoughts lie in increasing awareness of the Army's policy and leading by example (leaders starting blogs). Additionally, posting guidance around MWR computers would increase awareness and potentially encourage Soldiers to try their hand at blogging. (Personal note: as I'm finding, blogging is a lot less difficult and time consuming than I had imagined. And, getting the dialogue going is pretty cool!)

As the article points out, and LTG Caldwell has also discussed, we have some cultural challenges to overcome. This is where the education/enabling of Soldiers to be effective bloggers is most important. We can't overcome cultural challenges by trying to do things the same way we've always done them and/or discounting new ideas and technology because they carry risks with them. We must evaluate the value of the idea, decide if the value of the idea is high enough to justify further work, examine and understand all inherent risks, and then develop ways to reduce that risk. We do this all the time for operations across the spectrum of conflict and in training. We need to do the same thing for blogs and other new media outlets. The Army is moving in this direction with some new blog policy guidance that is due out sometime next year.

Misleading CNN headline about Soldier blog ...

Headline this morning on CNN.com: "I'm going to die," Soldier blogs

So, that makes it sound like this was a new comment on a current blog ... but I'll reserve my critique of editors' choices for another day! None-the-less, Colby Buzzell - and, therefore, Soldier blogs - got some more press today. A couple of comments in the article are worth copying here - they apply perfectly to what this blog is all about (the emphasis is mine).

Pentagon security policy forbids soldiers to publish sensitive information, such as unit locations or the timing of military operations, that might put troops in harm's way. But beyond that, soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are encouraged to blog about military life, said Army Public Affairs Spc. Lindy Kyzer.
"We're actually entering an era of transparency, where we need to have our soldiers talk. It does open up risks. Once you post something, you can't get it back. But we trust our soldiers with a lot," she said. "They are our best spokespersons. They know what the life of a soldier is like, and it's important to convey that to the American people."
Blogging also helps soldiers process traumatic combat experiences that can be hard for them to talk about, Kyzer said.

I disagree that the Army currently "encourages" Soldiers to blog - "allows" or "tolerates" more accurately captures how I understand the policies and practices. But SPC Kyzer (interesting that PA has a SPC as a spokesperson - nothing against our great junior Soldiers, but I was under the impression that it would typically be someone of higher rank ***CORRECTION: Lindy Kyzer is a "Public Affairs Specialist", not an Army SPC - Thanks AFSister ***) does make two great points: "we need to have our soldiers talk [because] they are our best spokespersons." And add another reason - therapeutic benefit - to the list of reasons why the Army really should encourage blogging.

So, let's go back to the idea of encouraging Soldiers to blog. What are some legitimate ways to encourage that? I'll post some ideas later ... in the meantime, feel free to leave your ideas about it.

Keeping it credible ...

Some great feedback from yesterday's post inquiring about how to educate Soldiers to be effective bloggers. Thanks! This interaction - bouncing ideas around and hearing your thoughts - has gotten me fired up about this project. I appreciate your comments ... keep them coming!

There are a couple of key points that came up throughout the comments I want to highlight here which all seem to speak to one idea - credibility. Without credibility we get nowhere ... check that, we go backwards. And that's not what I'm looking for.

If the Army truly decides to encourage Soldier blogging, then we've got to be willing to accept the good with the bad. This is hard for many leaders to accept and, I suspect, one of the big reasons we haven't embraced this idea yet. In fact, I hinted around at this problem in my earlier posts when I mentioned getting "good news out there." Obviously, that would be the primary intent, but along with that, we must accept that all there is to say is not necessarily "good news." If it looks like government produced propaganda, it won't be respected as credible information. If it seems like nothing but cheerleading it won't be of as much interest and will likely lose credibility. In a way, I guess, keeping it real keeps it credible.

Another comment made concerned the role of Public Affairs Officers (PAO) in this process. I agree with LT N's comment and Galrahn's elaboration that if all we want to do is get the official messages out then PA's fully qualified to do this. He's exactly right that I'm thinking about much more than that - I want to get more Soldier's stories out as part of the Army story. And PA can't do that as effectively as Soldier's themselves. There's just something inherently credible hearing about someone's experiences, challenges, thoughts, from that person - not through some filter. Of course there's a vital role for PA and mainstream media. I'm just looking for a way to round it out, add a bit more variety.

Now, could PA have a role in blogging? Obviously, if the command has a blog PA will be involved. But what about their role in any old Soldier blog? Would a Soldier be willing to consider the talking points developed by PAs? Would making our Soldier's aware of the messages their command is trying to send help them better frame their blog posts? Or would it detract from their credibility?

I think that if we were to provide these communication tools to our Soldiers "with no strings attached" it could only help. The reason I say this is because of the value of knowing the bigger picture when you're reflecting on your part of that picture. My personal experience has been that I can make a lot better sense about what my organization and I are up to when I truly understand what my higher commander's intent and vision is - some basic principles from developing orders that I think could apply well to the world of blogging.

How best to get Soldier's blogging ...

In January, LTG Caldwell, CG of the US Army's Combined Arms Center, proposed that the Army could do a significantly better job of allowing - actually encouraging - Soldiers to engage "new media". I won't restate his thoughts here, but I'd like to discuss one aspect of his piece specifically:

Educating Soldiers to better engage "new media"


For those who've been around the military for any length of time, the thought of more mandatory training is not appealing and questionable in it's effectiveness. So, how could we best educate our Soldiers to be effective in helping to tell the Army's story - helping to get some more of the good news out there - while ensuring they're fully aware of the challenges (security and otherwise).

We already have regular training about operational security and adding a few bits about how that links to web content is too easy - but I bet most soldiers already understand what OPSEC is, why it's important, and their role in it and applying that to the web is not much of a stretch.

I'm most interested in how best to educate/train our Soldiers to be effective communicators - people who can clearly articulate the story they have to tell, make it readable and interesting, and the best ways to get that story out to the most people possible. That's were we really should focus our education and training efforts - that's the part that we're not capitalizing on right now and, I believe, missing out on because of it!


So what do you think? What are some ways that this type of education could be best integrated?