IDGA Survey Reveals Expanding Use of Social Media by Defense and Government

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Although traditionally cautious in participating in emerging public trends, military and government organizations have quickly moved from tentatively exploring social media tools to, in many cases, wholeheartedly embracing its use.

IDGA recently conducted a survey to gauge to what extent the defense and government communities are engaging in social media practices.  Respondents were asked which social media outlets their organizations utilized, what their primary objectives were in using social media, and what they felt were the greatest challenges posed in developing and executing a successful social media strategy.

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		Social Media for Defense Download the brochure for IDGA's Social Media for Defense Conference, to be held in Washington DC from May 21-23.

Respondents were drawn from the attendees of IDGA’s Social Media for Defense  conference held last October, and included representatives from the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, National Guard, and other government and defense entities.

The survey revealed a growing and relatively broad use of social media tools, with more than three-quarters of respondents’ organizations having some level of use of Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr, while nearly two-thirds have begun using Twitter.  A far smaller percentage reported having a presence on LinkedIn, illustrating the heavy industry slant of that social media outlet.

 There was a fairly broad consensus of the primary objective of social media use by defense and government organizations.  Nearly 80 percent revealed that communicating to a broader audience was their main objective when turning to social media outlets, while only 15 percent reported using social media for generating leads or other uses.

There was a greater diversity of opinion when the question turned to challenges faced during the use of social media.  Over half of the respondents said the biggest challenge was figuring out how to measure social media success, while slightly more than one-third reported having difficulty in defining a social media strategy.  And perhaps illustrating the government and military’s growing familiarity with social media tools, just 14 percent reported having concerns with operational security in their social media initiatives.

Other challenges respondents reported having were achieving a sufficient level of organizational buy-in for their social media efforts, educating the organization’s members about social media usage, determining the optimal social media outlet for their particular organization, and developing appropriate staffing and resource levels to fully structure a coherent social media strategy.

Overall, there appears to be a growing consensus over the importance and utility of employing social media tools for defense and government organizations.  As one respondent put it, “we know we want to do it.  We’re just not sure how yet.”

IDGA’s 5^thAnnual Social Media for Defense Summit will be held May 21-23, 2012 in Washington, DC.  For more information on the event, visit www.idgasocialmedia.com, or call 1-800-882-8684.  For defense and government news and information, visit www.idga.org

Contributor:   Christopher Dauer

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Report Abuse   chrisdauer 02/21/2012 9:00:11 AM EST That has certainly been a concern, Zac. This survey was intended to produce a snapshot of current social media use within defense and government organizations--those kinds of more complex issues will be discussed at the May conference. Replies (0) Post a reply Sign in or Sign up to post a comment

Report Abuse   zakko1 02/18/2012 3:30:16 AM EST Christopher, I am actually doing research into Defence and Social Media at the moment. My focus is the risk that it poses to OPSEC. I would be interested in any data you could give me on the Defence usage surveys or on your sources of information. Thanks, Zac Ezzy. Replies (0) Post a reply Sign in or Sign up to post a comment