Politics and Technology

Normally, the terms “military” and “technology” together invoke images of hands-on products such as stealthy terrorist detectors, wireless antennas for U.S. Army field personnel or high-definition display engine prototypes.

 

Yet secure, virtual technologies and video-based tools such as telepresence have found their way into communications among military personnel, and – according the Associated Press, they’ve emerged as a means to recruit new members.

 

The AP’s Sagar Meghani published an interesting article today about how the upper echelons of the U.S. Army are leveraging social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to find new troops.

 

With its viral spread among target age groups – 18 to 24-year-olds – the online tools represent a good way to find young people for whom the military could be a good option, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley reportedly told Meghani.

 

“They live in the virtual world,” Freakley reportedly told Meghani. “You could friend your recruiter, and then he could talk to your friends.”

 

All of the U.S. military’s branches are using the social networking tools, the AP reports. The Air Force has a Facebook (News - Alert) page, Twitter feeds and a blog, the Marine Corps is using sites to recruit, the Navy is looking at online media, with “some of its commands” using Twitter, and there’s a Coast Guard commandant who “regularly updates his Facebook status while traveling.”

 

Already this year, the Army set up an online and social media division within its communications office. That group’s director, Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, told Meghani that the military is constantly looking for good ways to reach soldiers, their families and the public.

 

“We know that’s where they are, and we need to go to them,” Arata reportedly told the AP.

 

Given the rapid rise of social networking sites – Facebook recently eclipsed 200 million users worldwide – it’s hard to argue with the military’s thinking.

 

In addition to protecting the nation, the military offers U.S. businesses opportunities in marketing and personnel, TMCnet special guest Elaine Dumler writes this week.