USAF Leadership Just Doesn't Get Social Networking

The actions taken within the Air Force concerning use of social networking on the Internet have been the source of humor and disdain in the popular press. Basically, as shown HERE HERE and HERE, the Air Force is seen as having its head up and firmly locked while the Army and (even) the Navy are leveraging the new Internet tools effectively. The Air Force road to ruin seems to have started with a Power Point presentation (shown here) by a bright young major at Warner Robbins who, according to follow up articles, didn't do much fact checking. Even the USAF OSI got into the act, showing a frightning (for the OSI) lack of understanding of IP addressing.

As a retired Air Force officer, I'll be one of the first to say that my service is looking pretty silly in its response to social networking.

Such inappropriate response is nothing new. When the first MME (Military Message Exchange) semi-erperimental systems were being rolled out, the outrage and fear over "Skip-Channel communications" was loud and clear.

In one of my (free) online courses on the use of the Internet, I point out that the best use of social networking by an organization is to build "fans and friends". Gee, the Air Force could use some of those right now.

I postulate that the Air Force culture is feeling put-upon by many factors including real scandals, such as the "lost nukes" and the Strategic Management Solutions procurement, and non-scandals such as the tanker decision. The "close the doors and board up the windows" attitude is the first and unfortunate response of a bureaucracy under stress. It smells like there are a couple of weenies roasting in bad places on the E-ring.

Usually, the civilian SecAF side is savvy enough to kick the Air Staff out of this kind of funk. The Air Staff seems to have pulled the "security" blanket over their heads and is sitting in the corner sucking their thumbs over social networking. Good for the Grunt in kicking USAF butt on this one! Frank Derfler www.greatguybooks.com -- Discussing All the Guy Toys that aren't (clearly) illegal or (blatantly) immoral at http://mostlyflying.blogspot.com Pilots: See me at www.flyinflorida.com Guys: See www.greatguybooks.com