Feed me, Seymour!

Okay, the new task I have sits me in a secure facility, on systems with lots of web filters and a pretty stout user policy, and is near-real-time war work.  Which has crimped me.  Really crimped me when it comes to direct participation in things like the Blogger's Roundtables.  Sitting out in the car on a cell phone ain't a conducive atmosphere, and, in fact, my current situation is one of those things that limit bloggers as replacements for the MSM... since so very very few of us make a living at it, and another reason this is a group blog...

All of which is a whine to set up this swipe at my ol' buddy Noah Schachtman, who, apparently, doesn't feel compelled to shill his stuff to me, expecting, somehow, that I'll read it or something.  Okay, he makes a living at this stuff, he doesn't need to shill it out.  But good golly gee, no one else dropped me a line about it either!

The Air Force, other than Noonan at Op-For, has started to show up on the blogosphere - and, in classic Air Force fashion, they've got charts 'n darts!

No, seriously!  But you'll have to click the "read more" button to see it.

Be polite, tell the truth, be supportive, and don't hang around with haters, and tell Mom if you run into really nasty kids.

OSD and the Army have arguably done the best job of blogger outreach, clumsy as it's been sometimes, especially on the recruiting side of things.  In the recruiting sphere, the Army understands blogs might be useful, but because they don't really understand bloggers and how they work, they haven't come up with a good, functional way to leverage them.  And, in truth, it may well just be that the best way to leverage bloggers (vice maintaining their own social media presence) may be buying ads. 

But the Defense Department (OSD) and Department of the Army (DA) Public Affairs people are trying hard to figure it out, just as we're trying to figure out our relationship with them, which is really much more complex than the traditional media's relationship.  Those complexities make a lot of old school PAO types throw up their hands and walk away - and counsel the services to do so, as well.  Jack Holt (OSD) and Lindy Kyzer (DA) have their own internal battles they have to wage, as they flex, adapt, and educate.

The COCOMs, the Combatant Commands, in the form of CENTCOM, actually led the way - not unusual, they guys at the relative tip of the spear usually have the greatest need to innovate.

The Navy seems mostly content to let this happen via OSD (though I may just not be a target of Navy PA shops) but they've taken the big step of treating bloggers as typical embeds, at least in terms of non-combat access.  There was the recent embark opportunity  on USS Kearsarge, and the upcoming embed opportunities aboard USS Nashville off of Africa and USNS Comfort in the Caribbean (but ya do hafta get yourself to the ports on your own dime, just like the big boys do - except the big boys have expense accounts...).

It's significant that most of this stuff is handled by... junior-to-midgrade officers and civilians.  First - it indicates that while they're taking us seriously, they're not taking us too seriously, which is okay - because frankly, the younger, more junior folks understand this stuff better.

So, the Air Force hits the field with Captain David Faggard, who is the AF point man.  Not surprisingly, the AF splash comes in the form of offense, not defense.  Mind you, they've been playing defense, and in hardball fashion, for years, and there is some irony in their offense. 

The offensive comes with the publication of a Counter-terrorism, bad publicity, -Blog strategy, in which Airmen are trained to Orient, Observe, Decide, and Act on blogs.  Colonel Boyd would be bemused, but then dig into it, I'm sure.  They have guidance on how to do it, too.  And rather than write a manual, they produced a flow chart, which I'm sure is now posted by every PC in Zoomieville...



I think it's a pretty good chart.  Please weigh in if you think otherwise. (Here's a slightly easier to read version)

If it's good news, just leave it be or reinforce it.  Don't engage "trolls" and "ragers," rather, observe and report.  This is sound advice, as engagement on those guys and gals just feeds 'em and makes 'em happy to have another target - and they aren't really interested in your opinion unless it aligns with theirs, anyway.  As they'll tell you in scatological detail, along with their blogpeeps. 

Interestingly enough - the "Misguided" and "Unhappy Customer" categories... heh.  That's where a lot of bloggers fit, as unhappy customers and thinking "the other guy" (choose your villain) is misguided...

Dusty already follows this guidance, either in comments or in email to me, when his beloved Air Force is pinged in these halls.  Sometimes rather tartly, I might add...

But Dusty - have ya reported us to HQ yet?

If anything is going to give the paranoiac wing of the Blogosphere, Left and Right, pause, it's that block.  Report the Trolls and Ragers to HQ.  Heh.  That's precisely a part of the job of the PA guys, however, to track the negatives, and to counter where appropriate, not just to push the positive.

Anyone notice how the chart pretty much just codifies, in blog-terms, the same stuff your mother, Elementary, and Sunday school teachers tried to impress upon you?  There's nothing new in there but terms.

Be polite, tell the truth, be supportive, and don't hang around with haters, and tell Mom if you run into really nasty kids.