Uncle Sam Wants You – To Tweet

When you think about organizations that embrace social media – you know, that newfangled paradigm that encourages two-way communication between enterprises, employees and consumers – the first one that springs to mind is the U.S. Army, right?

What? No?

Actually, yeah. Reversing their tradition of banning military service members from using social sites like Twitter, MySpace and YouTube the Department of Defense officially released their official social media policy, Directive-Type Memorandum 09-026 last month. Since the title doesn’t exactly say it all (the DOD’s directive writer could use a face to face with a social media consultant, I’m just saying), I’ll recap.

As of now, users of NIRPNET (the DOD’s non-classified network) can use any kind of new media they want. So check Flickr for snaps of the Kandahar sunset, and Facebook for hints on what to stow in those care packages you’re still sending to the soldiers. (Right?) I don’t even want to know what we’ll see on YouTube.

(The DOD’s Social Media Page even has a handy graphic with fancy pop-up information on each of the popular social media sites. See?)

If you’ve noticed soldiers blogging, Tweeting and Facebooking before the oh-so-creatively-named Directive-Type Memorandum 09-026 came out, that’s because those soldiers were lucky enough to serve under commanders who allowed social media. The problem lay in the fact that some commanders arbitrarily shut soldiers out of social media sites, even going so far as making them close accounts or shutter blogs. This new policy specifically prohibits any one commander from making those decisions, essentially opening up access to social media to every member of the armed services.

In my opinion, while there are understandable security concerns (like the recent situation when an Israeli soldier posted details of an operation on Facebook), for the most part this can only be good for our armed services. In my opinion troop morale will soar as our fighting folks are able to have more up to date contact with their loved ones. It’s one thing to arrange for a session to talk to little Johnny and Jenny on the satellite phone, but quite another for the troops to read their spouse’s Facebook pages and keep abreast of the little details as life goes on back home in the country they are fighting for.

But it’s not all family, fun and games for our troops. The policy specifically prohibits some of the baser things in life, namely “pornography, gambling and hate-crime related activities.” So while we here at home can look at jiggly bits, lose our fortunes in a ridiculous manner, or start a Facebook group defaming bacon lovers, our men and women in the armed services still have to put up with a few restrictions on their internet usage.

But wait, there’s more! Uncle Sam also wants you to connect with him. Here are the vital details about how you too can Tweet with the U.S. Department of Defense:

Twitter

Facebook

YouTube

Flickr

Now I just have one question. What do you want to say to Uncle Sam?

A Billion Good Reasons for Social Media

Recipe for Disaster
The general consensus at the New York Times seems to be that post-bankruptcy General Motors must develop new and inexpensive ways to gain supporters. And rather than doing the same old things in the same old ways—which turned out to be Detroit’s recipe for disaster—they must become innovators in the global automotive market. They must continue to make the hard choices when it comes to their products and employees, but they must also get the word out to the motoring public in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Advertising on a Shoestring
The days of million-dollar media buys are over for GM. At least, they are while I’m in charge, and until they pay back that thirty billion, I definitely intend to have my say. The car-buyers of today are a different breed, and GM must change with the times if they are to survive. In light of this new reality, it appears that the General Motors Corporation is embracing social media as one tool in its bag as it explores different ways to keep its potential customers informed.

Blogging for Motorists
Blogging is one good example. GM has seven official blogs, all of which can be found at GMblogs.com. They are well-done, professional affairs written by a variety of General Motors executives and employees. The blog I explored in-depth—the Fastlane—used many of the methodologies espoused by John Blossom in Content Nation and by Safko and Brake in The Social Media Bible. Thus there were plenty of internally-linked photos, links to videos and podcasts, a scheduled webchat, short, well-written text blocks, and a good measure of interaction with the site’s 2059 registered readers.

Facebook
Another medium that GM seems to be successfully employing is Facebook. Once I arrived at the GM Facebook page, the first thing I noticed was that they had over 112,000 fans at the site. This may not be an impressive number to General Motors, but it certainly got my attention. In addition to a selection of posts from GM executives and employees, there were videos, fan videos, over 1000 fan photos, a well-used discussion board, and a Chevrolet Volt naming contest. In all, it seemed to be a successful site with plenty of interactivity.

Twitter
After viewing the Facebook page, I clicked over to GM’s Twitter page for a look. They listed over 13,000 followers and have sent over 4000 Tweets since they began using the service. On the day I checked it out, there were over 6900 active followers waiting for the next Tweet, and there had been 20 Tweets during the previous 24 hours. As you might assume, GM uses Twitter to disseminate news about its products and services, and they appear to employ several full-time Tweeters.

Other Sites
In addition to these main sites, General Motors also posts on Flickr, Posterous, MySpace, and of course, on their own website. At first glance, all of this activity looks promising. GM appears to be making the right moves at the right times, and their message seems to be getting out to the right people. But one of the problems with teaching old dogs new tricks is that, in the end, old dogs are still old dogs. All of the sites and posts I explored were exceptionally well-done, as if a large, multi-layered corporate media department had done them.

Staying the Course

No, there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as GM is able to stay focused on the fact that they’re in a new ballgame now. They were once the world's largest automaker, and for most of my life they were one of the top ten financial entities anywhere, ahead of such notables as General Electric, IBM, and The Soviet Union. The year before they crashed and burned, GM’s advertising budget was 1.3 billion dollars. That’s billion with a B. The year before that, it was 1.5 billion.

The thing is, I would hate to see them backslide. And maybe they won’t. But old habits die hard, and if GM’s social media efforts are carried out by the same people in the same departments with the same mindset as the folks who spent 1.5 billion dollars in 2005 on the way to losing over 8 billion dollars that same year, you have to wonder how long they can remain born-again. I may never get my $30 billion back.

Social Media and The Church

Have you ever tweeted in church? Have you ever texted in church? Some of you may have at inappropriate times, but at Mt. Bethel UMC in Marietta, GA that is exactly what you are encouraged to do. Yes in some churches, communication has come a long way from your "grandma's church". Most churches only use front lawn, letter changing signs, or weekly bulletins printed on unexciting white paper. But there are many churches that have opened their doors and embraced social media.

Bandwagon or Reason?

I was quite sceptical when the social media aspect was brought up within my own congregation at Mt. Bethel UMC. I wanted to make sure that we, as a body of believers, were using social media for the right reason and not just to be "cool." I soon found that the idea of adding social media to the service was a great idea. During the sermon the congregation is encouraged to text or tweet comments or questions they would like the pastor to address. The congregation response has been overwhelming. When asked why the response has been so overwhelming, Pastor Jody Ray responded, "in such a big corporate worship service it is hard to have an open forum, and being able to speak up through text messages or tweeting give people an opportunity to express concerns and ask questions that they may not normally be able to voice." The only negative to adding the media aspect Ray says, is the amount of texts they get on a Sunday morning verses the amount of time they have to answer. They only have time to answer a few questions so not everyone gets heard, but all in all this has been a very effective tool for ministry.

The ROI for a Church

In the business world social media is uses to elevate the ROI, Return on Investment, this is also true for a church. Instead of looking at the ROI in quantitative terms the church looks at it in qualitative terms. Most churches ask the question, "is the social media in question going to help the quality of church ministry?" "Is the use of a particular media going to further the cause of

Kingdom work?" In most cases, the answer is a resounding YES! Social Media in the church not only enhances communication, it allows for a connection that many people in a mega-church like Mt. Bethel UMC with 10,000 members, may not have had. It also is a way to place a "call to action." A Christian's number one concern is to live for Christ and also to disciple, and social media helps accomplish both by using many different outlets:

1. Podcast of sermons

2. Daily Bible study Tweets and blog postings

3. Posting to Facebook, You Tube, and iTunes worship songs and videos

4. Allowing your members to stay connected to ministry staff through e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, and Linkedin.

I am sure there are many other ways social media can be used in the Church. I am not sure if all the possibilities have been tapped into as of yet, but I believe to stay connected and relevant, churches must make use of social media.

Doppleganger Week on Facebook: Who's Your Celebrity Look Alike?

Is that my friend Nikiah or is it Lisa Nicole Carlson from Ally McBeal?

And I never really noticed that my favorite uncle’s childhood best friend (oh what a tangled Facebook friend web we weave), looks just like Chris Elliott. But now I’ll never get this image out of my head.

Why am I suddenly comparing all my friends to celebrities? Because its Doppelganger Week on Facebook. Nobody, not even the gurus of all things social media over at the Mashable blog, knows where or how Doppelganger Week started, but it has taken Facebook by storm. Like the “What color is your bra?” status update meme and Wayback Week, Doppleganger Week is the newest fad, and it has practically everyone on Facebook changing their profile pictures to a famous face. Now, as I scroll through my friend feed, I do double takes when I see the celebrities my friends (sometimes misguidedly) think they look like.

While internet memes (an idea, catchphrase, game, or concept that spreads quickly via the internet) are by no means new to Facebook, memes that require users to change their profile pictures are. But they make sense. Facebook, more than any other social media platform, encourages users to be themselves. And that includes uploading pictures from their real lives. While people might be tempted to use another picture – such as a funny avatar or a company logo – on Twitter or online forums, Facebook is all about just that… the user’s real face. I’m just surprised that Facebook, a platform that’s celebrating its 6^th birthday this week, didn’t adopt memes that played on user’s pictures even sooner.

I confess I rarely get told I look like a celebrity, so I haven’t picked a doppelganger. Should I be annoyed? Or proud that my striking good looks are so um... unique?

Since I was having trouble finding my famous twin, I did what any social media user worth her salt would do. I asked other Facebook users. I got suggestions like Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt from the 1971 movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) and Janeane Garofalo. I liked both ideas, but I thought I might find someone even better, so I turned to Google. After searching the keyphrase, “find my celebrity look alike,” I stumbled across MyHeritage.com’s Celebrity Collage.

…Which is clearly broken. After uploading this picture, I, flatteringly, received an 80% match with the elegant Grace Kelly, a 78% match with smoking hot Mary Louise Parker, and a 75% match with Gene Tierney. I think this website is trying to sell me something, don’t you?

I then tried FaceDouble.com, which wanted my email address before finding my celebrity look alike, and then claimed that I looked like two separate teenyboppers named Rachel, neither of which I felt at all resembled plain little ol’ me. I suppose the art of internet-based celebrity look alike identification is as yet an inexact science.

I have yet to pick my celebrity doppelganger. Have you? You’d better get on it, because soon enough Doppleganger Week will be gone the way of the dodo, and Wayback Week, and the What Color is your Bra meme…

Side note: More interested in finding your true facial twin than your celebrity twin? Then check out Coke Zero’s Facial Profiler made especially for Facebook. While it seems to have some of the same problems as My Heritage’s Celebrity Collage and FaceDouble.com, this snazzy app claims that it will find your twin among Facebook’s over 350 million users. ...Once again, I was “unique.”

Did you have better luck than I did finding a twin? Post your results in the comments!

Jennifer Escalona is an Atlanta-based professional blogger and social media consultant who writes about small business, technology, and intercultural marriage. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook or read more of her work at JennEscalona.com.