Military warns soldiers not to post info on Facebook

This just came in on my CBC news feed 30 minutes ago:

The Defence Department is advising Canadian soldiers not to post personal photos and information on social networking websites like Facebook, citing security concerns. The advisory was circulated in a memo obtained by CBC News. It warns soldiers not to appear in uniform in online photos and not to disclose their military connections. “Al Qaeda operatives are monitoring Facebook and other social networking sites,” the memo says. “This may seem overdramatic … [but] the information can be used to target members for further exploitation. It also opens the door for your families and friends to become potential targets as well.” -Read the full story here.

The first thing that came to my mind was “are you kidding me??!!!” Not only are members of the military apart from their families and friends enough as is, we’re now going to isolate them even more by banning their virtual networks. I then read on and felt some legitimate concern for the safety of our troops and their families. This was quickly followed by a feeling that this whole ordeal is nothing more than an attempt by the federal government to control the already scattered message its trying to convey to the public (in terms of the combat vs. peacekeeping role of our military) at this very sensitive time in Ottawa politics. So what’s the real reason? I have no idea, and quite likely, neither do you. What I do know is that banning Facebook will not solve anything (just look at the government of Ontario).

There are literally hundreds of other online social networks available out there for anyone to use. What good will banning a single one of them do? Does this mean the government is also going to ban any kind of content generation by soldiers? (i.e. uploading YouTube videos, writing a blog on Wordpress, submitting a story to “Digg“, putting up photos on Flickr, Podcasting a niche radio show, etc…).

Many of these social media sites require setting up personal profiles that contain private information. If a modern “Al Qaeda” member really wanted to go through the effort of going after a particular soldier’s family (as implied in the article), they would likely start with Google (providing they don’t already have detailed military files on the individual they are after). Due to the ever increasing power of search engines, every bit of digital information (text, photo, sound or video) created by any given soldier over their lifetime would have to deleted from the internet to ensure his/her true safety. The only problem is, that’s impossible to do.

I personally think the government should put less focus on banning the online engagement of military personnel and instead think of ways to foster and encourage it! After all, unlike a lot of people (especially politicians around here), they might actually have something interesting to say! One can argue that opening up the channels of communication between the military and the Canadian public would actually improve the safety of our troops, since Canadians would understand the true nature of the role we are serving in Afghanistan (which would quite possibly help the troops attain more support, more equipment, improved morale and heightened faith in their military leaders).

My point here is that I simply do not see any point in widening the gap between military personnel and the Canadian public even further when there is already so much misunderstanding as to our role (i.e. over 70% of Canadians do not know that we are engaged in combat in Afghanistan–>they think it’s peacekeeping) .

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that military personnel already go through thorough training as to what they are allowed and not allowed to communicate to the public. The issue in this case comes back to the democratization of the web (web 2.0), and the shocking realization by “old guard” military high-ups that suddenly low-ranking officers have the power to not only influence public opinion, but control the messaging coming out of the top ranks!…This obviously threatens to turn the entire military institution as we know it upside down. It will be interesting to see how all of this evolves. Increasingly, the private sector is adopting the use of social media and the concept of “giving up control”. Mind you, it has a long way to go, hence why so many social media consultants are popping up everywhere I look, but nonetheless, they are reacting. Will the military follow suite, or will it go back to reading “The Art of War”?

Back from PodCamp Toronto…

This was my second Podcamp, and definitely not my last. For anyone involved in social media, I highly recommend this line of unconferences (held in various cities around the world). This year’s Podcamp Toronto featured a great line of speakers providing informative case studies and “best practices” workshops on a variety of social media topics. I attended the following:

• Facebook Marketing – Colin Smillie & Roy Pereira
• Social Media in a Disaster - Dave Fleet
• Introducing the Social Media Press Release -Collin Douma
• How the Alzheimer Society of Ontario fell in love with Social Media – WayneMaPhail
• Everything you need to know about Second Life – Jenny Bullough & Eden Spodek
• Podcasting on a budget – Russel Hale

The whole conference was streamed LIVE on the Internet so you can watch the sessions yourself if you were unable to attend. Videos and presentation slides will be available here (on the wiki) by the end of the week.

From a public sector marketing perspective, I found the “Alzheimer’s Society” and “Social Media in a Disaster” presentations fantastic. Be sure to watch these sessions as they become available. I spent quite a bit of time chatting with Robin Browne from Da Biz Blog who shares a similar passion in terms of helping non-profits use social media to better deliver their messages and improve their marketing efforts. I also had a great conversation with Collin Douma about the flawed compensation model that the advertising industry is based on and the rise of Social Media Press Releases (to complement traditional PR/Communications). Be sure to check out Collin’s Blog Radical Trust for some great insights and advice on PR in a world of Web 2.0.

Overall I was very impressed with the flawless collaborative organization of the conference and the friendliness of the social media community in general. I see more and more “regulars” as I attend these events but also a whole slew of newbies as the field of social media marketing and communications expands into the mainstream.

I will definitely be using some examples from this conference in my “Develop a Social Media Marketing Plan in One Day” workshop (catered specifically for the public and non-profit sectors), which our organization (CEPSM) will be conducting in partnership with CMG across Canada beginning April, 2008 (shameless plug!). We have a PDF brochure of our complete line of workshops available as well, in case you need a hard copy document with more info .

In all seriousness though, I’m quite excited at getting these best practices out there to hesitant communications and marketing professionals in the public sector that still need proof that the benefits of getting engaged in social media outweigh the risks. Success stories are popping up left right and centre, why re-invent the wheel when we can all learn from each others experiences!

My “ooVoo” social media video chat recap!

What the heck is ooVoo?

A free video-chat application that lets you connect with up to 6 users at once (see last week’s post). Over the last few days, participants from around the world logged on to try it out and chat with various social media experts as part of a promotion put on by the social media consulting firm crayon. I signed up for 4 sessions, all of which went flawlessly (aside from a few minor sound issues some people had). I had a great time meeting and chatting with both people that work in my field and others that work in completely different areas (film, music, writing, legal, medical, to name a few) but share a common passion for social media. Here are some screenshots:

The conversations were completely organic/spontaneous and didn’t follow any particular format, which is what made this experience so interesting. I found this to be a great tool to quickly put names to faces of various business contacts I’ve amassed either through email or by following their blogs and podcasts.

These last few days really got me thinking back to the origins of video chat and the choppy frame rates in the 90’s (remember “Internet Phone” anyone?). The reality is that those days are long gone for most people. Broadband is here to stay, and most modern mainstream computers have all the necessary processing power and video memory to handle real-time video efficiently, and then some! The technological barriers have been obliterated. You can chat with multiple people around the world, (often times with better sound quality then on a phone) and see them on your screen at 30 fps–>FOR FREE!

So why isn’t there widespread adoption of these tools? Why aren’t organizations using them for quick meetings? Why are they paying monstrous fees for proprietary software that’s often just as buggy? I don’t have an answer for you there. You may say that it’s lack of features and security, but I beg to differ since most people that I seen using WebEx, SVI, StreamLogics, and the likes often aren’t aware of 90% of their software’s potential.

Sure, ooVoo has certain limitations such as lack of a whiteboard and application sharing. However, at the moment that’s not its purpose. Communication simplicity is meant to be its prevalent theme. That being said, there are many competing applications popping up every day, and effective differentiation is going to make or break many of these start-ups. Let’s just hope ooVoo finds a solid business model for itself to ensure sustainability.

My verdict: I will be ready to support it even at a minor fee (which should be expected at one point or another unless affiliate advertising proves to be a sufficient source of income). In the meantime, try it out for yourselves while its free! You can add me by searching for “Mike Kujawski”.