PR 101

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When coordinating news coverage of the war in Afghanistan, ensuring bloggers get the information and access they need is very important to U.S. Air Force Captain David Faggard. To Faggard, bloggers have the same status as any reporter from a traditional print or broadcast outlet.

A blogger himself, Faggard feels that “we have to focus on bloggers. They are an important information outlet. They are kind of like Ernie Pyle in World War II. They tell the personal stories. ”

Faggard heads up the Air Force’s media relations in Afghanistan. Based at Bagram Airfield, Faggard’s official title is Chief, Public Affairs for the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing. He was the Air Force’s first designated point man for social media working for the Secretary of the Air Force’s Office of Public Affairs in the Pentagon before deploying to Afghanistan.

Talking to Faggard was an “aha” moment for me. I know many companies around the world are turning to social media to get their message out. I knew that the military services were dipping their toes into the social media pool. But, I had no idea that the bloggers are now essentially war correspondents and the Air Force is reaching out to them. Bloggers are now on equal footing with any other reporter.

“I have been working with bloggers for about a year-and-half,” Faggard said. “When I was last at the Pentagon, I worked with the approvals to arrange for a blogger to go out with the Hurricane Hunters out of Biloxi, now I’m working a blogger flight to bring average bloggers to the war.”

“Over the last couple of years, the armed forces have tried, in fits and starts, to connect more with bloggers,” Wired Magazine wrote in January. “The Army and the Office of the Secretary of Defense now hold regular “bloggers’ roundtables” with generals, colonels, and key civilian leaders. The Navy invited a group of bloggers to embed with them on a humanitarian mission to Central and South America, last summer. Military blogger Michael Yon recently traveled to Afghanistan with Defense Secretary Robert Gates.”

The Air Force senior brass is still working to decide how to approach and use social media, Faggard said. Still, he says he has a fair amount of leeway in deciding what is okay and what is not. He said he is making strides in convincing his superiors that social media can be a valuable tool for the Air Force.

“In my personal opinion, the military is still trying to figure it out,” Faggard said. “Of course, anyone talking to a blogger, or writing a blog, cannot violate standard Air Force rules. You cannot talk about war plans for instance or about operational plans.

“We are at a crossroads in social media. It is time consuming for a lot of people, but I could see it pushing out the smaller brands of traditional media.”

Like any good officer, Faggard has changed his tactics as the situation changed. He chuckles when he notes his Air Force public affairs training consisted things such topics how to run a press conference. But, he has dealt with bloggers on a regular basis and uploaded videos to YouTube.

“I have never held a press conference in Afghanistan,” Faggard said

There has been a major debate in the Air Force over social media. There was an “old-school mentality” over its use, Faggard said. From talking to Faggard and reading about the Air Force’s social media efforts, I think the senior commanders are having had the same debate many C-suite executives are having. The Air Force commanders are in their late 40s and 50s. They grew up reading newspapers and watching television news. In their worldview, those mediums still dominate. They are not sure about social media, what it is, and what it can do.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I am 55-years-old. But, I do get it.)

Part of the Air Force’s concern is the same thing that concerns many chief executive officers – giving up control of the brand. It has been my experience that is the hardest thing for anyone in a position of control to do. Controlling the message on social media can very difficult. It takes savvy and acumen. Knowing that has to be hard for anyone in a military organization where control is imperative.

However, Faggard and other young officers seem to be making progress convincing their superiors that they need to be part of the social media movement. After meeting with Facebook executives, the Air Force now has a page on the largest social media application. It has a channel on YouTube called AFBlueTube. When I checked, it had almost 250 videos on it. Individuals, such as Faggard and his Pentagon-based commanding officer, are blogging and using other social media applications.

There are rules, of course, but they didn’t strike me as any tougher than those at many U.S. companies. In the Air Force, anyone using social media has to be careful to say whatever they say or write is their personal opinion. Many companies don’t allow their employees to state their own opinions. The Washington Post – a newspaper of all things – just banned its reporters from tweeting their own opinions.

The military has to trust its lower echelon people, Faggard said. When anyone can buy a digital camera for $100 that takes pictures and video, it is probable the average enlisted man is going to use that camera, he said. Those people can be a powerful public relations tool for the military, but showing what is being done in a way no newscaster or reporter ever can.

“We entrust 18-year-olds to fight and die for their country, we can trust them to blog.”

“Of course, people have to know they have to stay in their lane,” Faggard said. “They cannot do something that would endanger their buddies and their unit.

“Of course, if they are the kind of people who break the rules, we don’t want them in the Air Force anyway.”

The Air Force is showing it trusts its people. It now allows them to comment on blog posts. It seems to realize its personnel are best defenders and best ambassadors.

To show their people how to do that, the Air Force now has a “counter-blogging” flow chart, Wired also reported. It is a template for Air Force personnel to respond to negative blog posts and comments. Frankly, I think it would be valuable for a lot of corporations to borrow what the Air Force has done. Rather than ignore negative comments, the Air Force would like its personnel to respond. This is the important part – they want their people respond to comments about the Air Force, especially negative ones. The flow chart is template on how to do that.

Air Force Blog Response Template - Courtesy of Wired Magazine

“The chart was designed to encourage Public Affairs Airmen to engage inaccurate information, just has been done with journalists in the past,” Faggard explained. “There was a feeling that since it was online, we didn’t have the ability to correct the record. This was designed to encourage Airmen to fix the facts.  There are no ulterior motives here; it’s simply to correct the record.”

There is an axiom among military experts that generals always prepare for the next war as if it was the last war they fought. So, what usually happens is the junior officers who are on the ground, such as Faggard, are the ones who convince those generals to make the needed changes. The Air Force’s adoption of social media is a good example of that.