Blog Posts tagged with "business"
What's the next big thing?
Maj. Kristi Beckman is the Chief of Social Media for European Command Public Affairs
As social networking or social media becomes commonplace and the youngest to the oldest are chatting on Facebook, Linked In, Twitter and YouTube; one wonders what the next big thing will be.
So far, social media has allowed us to communicate through a two-way fashion not only to our friends and family but to businesses as well. If a day goes by and CNN doesn’t mention Twitter or Facebook, I haven’t seen it!
These are incredible tools to reach people and get unabashed opinions. If your business hasn’t jumped on board the social media train by now, do it quick! I can go to any of my favorite companies and put my two-sense in which is a fantastic tool for businesses to gather feedback and do what is called “crowd-sourcing.” If you’re interested, check out my boss’ blog on this. We are looking into this here as a great tool to aid us in the future.
We’re very active in social media here at European Command not only because we understand the importance and reap the benefits but also because our commander gets it. Admiral Stavridis maintains his own Facebook page, blog, and Twitter accounts. He is out there in the cyber realm communicating. As a matter of fact, on Twitter yesterday I had to laugh because one of the Admiral’s followers tweeted him, “Please tell me you have a business card that says, ‘Supreme Allied Commander Europe!’” Too funny!
And now that the Department of Defense has said to open the social networking services on government computers, we are going to start doing so much more that involves not just the public affairs office and the senior leaders, but the troops as well.
We want to bring in blogs from troops throughout our partner nation countries who are working alongside the Latvians, Moldovians, Macedonians, etc. Did you read about the U.S. troops marching in Red Square alongside the Russians? Talk about Stronger Together. Those were incredible images and stories and I’m just sorry I couldn’t be there personally.
So, what’s next? Where do you think the social networking arena will take us? We’re always striving to stay up to date with the latest in the social media realm, so help us out! It’s a social thing!
Find more blog posts tagged with:
- Supreme Allied Commander Europe
- crowdsourcing
- Admiral James Stavridis
- Red Square
- Public Affairs
- Russia
- business
- NATO
- Europe
- network
- SACEUR
Everyone's a blogger?
I'm looking for guidance from all you social media gurus, or not, out there. Do you practice the theory, in your business, command, etc., that everyone should blog?
Comments: 9
the next big thing is google buzz google has the clue ,the mone,y and the coder, to make the next big internet "thing" every day more cool stuff there and while is a "social" thing big HUG to all ;o)
Cupoane de reduceri, We've all been following the news about the Facebook privacy issues as Senator Charles Schumer brought this to light and has been very verbal in the news about it. There are three more Senators on board as well and they wrote a letter to Facebook. Regardless, doesn't look like Facebook will change their ways and their user-base has increased quite a bit. See the article from Faster News here for more info: http://thefastertimes.com/tech/2010/05/18/why-facebook-did-it/ Bottom line is to make sure you have your privacy settings locked down how you want them. You have to ensure in this day and age of cyber networking that you know exactly what you're getting yourself into. Thanks for the feedback! Kristi
Dgriess55, That's a good point! You are correct that the military is delving into this realm fast. All of us PAs have been given a crash course and are braving the seas as my Navy boss would say :o) It is important, as you mention, to take a bit of time out of your day to engage and communicate with people. I've noticed that it can consume your day very easily though, because it's fun to connect and re-connect with people. So, while we need to take some time out of the day, we also need to remember there are living/breathing human beings around us who need us as well ;) It's all about time-management and you've got to have these skills to work as well as play in this realm. Take care and thanks for the comment! Kristi
Good points, J. Scot! I have to admit I'm not quite as up on Foursquare as I'd like to be. We're still getting everyone on board here with Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. But it is something to look at for the future. Our Admiral is constantly thinking about the future possiblity in social media so we're keeping our eyes and ears open. We've recently put quite a bit of time and energy into learning about crowd-sourcing and the importance of it and the amazing capabilities we have using this mechanism. It's incredible what companies like www.crowdflower.com and www.ushahidi.com did in Haiti with crowd-sourcing to help support the disaster relief. Soooo, when you get here this summer, let's work on your great idea! :o) Kristi
Right now, the hot ticket is Location Applications such as Gowalla and Foursquare. What turned into a fun way to tell your friends where you were at is now starting to take shape in the marketing world. I've seen numerous stores that have Foursquare and Gowalla signs telling you, "Don't forget to check in! Tell your friends about our great sale coming this weekend." Some might think this is a bit creepy, but smart businesses with social media strategies are finding creative ways to work this into their plans and get some Return on Investment (ROI). Another way location services can be useful is to setup of cool things to do on an installation. For example, I am getting ready to move and work with the EUCOM family this Summer. Wouldn't it be cool to have a location based "Treasure Hunt" if you will or a Foursquare "Tour" of the installation using location based tools? Anyone can create an adventure for others to take part in and it keeps track of your progress. This would be a great idea to make a task like in-processing a little more fun and entertaining. It also serves as a record that I visited the organizations and facilities that are important to in-processing. Tools such as these are fantastic, but they don't do much good unless you find ways to effectively utilize them and effectively incorporate them into your organization. As more and more people make the move towards buying a smart phone or iPad-type device, the more practical and more successful an event such as this will be. Parting comment - What if they loaned you a Smart Phone or Device during the duration of in-processing in order to utilize some of these tools? Might be a small investment to turn a daunting and sometimes confusing process into a top-notch program. Just something to think about.
To most of the military world, the next big thing is your current thing. Thanks for sharing about ADM Stavridis' habits. Getting Commanders, XOs, COS, EDs, etc. to find their voice and engage with their colleagues across echelons and commands will be huge. The other big behavior change will be to get everyone to plan a few minutes for discovery, reflection and response in to every day.
I`m very concerned about privacy on this social platforms.Facebook is having some problems now and this is not good for us. Great article btw :)
I totally agree! The MWR people could do something really cool with FourSquare, GoWalla, and/or Yelp! Getting it past the lawyers and OPSEC folks would probably be the biggest hurdle...
For those who are concerned about Facebook privacy, please take a look at the following links on what you can do to "adjust" your Facebook settings to safeguard your privacy. http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/5869/facebook-how-to-prevent-your-profile-from-showing-up-in-public-searches/ http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/5875/facebook-use-a-limited-access-list-to-prevent-certain-friends-from-seeing-some-or-all-of-your-information/ --Arun