British troops encouraged to use social media

As reported in Mashable, British Troops Told to Tweet and Blog,

Britain’s Ministry of Defence has told troops they’re free to use social media tools and should apply “common sense” when deciding what to share online.

What’s more, the MOD has said it will sponsor soldiers who want to use blogs and Twitter to share stories of military life with the outside world.

To support this effort the Ministry of Defense has released new Online engagement guidelines as to what is expected of troops.

As the UK Defense News site states in the article, Forces encouraged to blog, tweet and engage online,

Social media - such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube - are an increasingly important way for Forces and MOD personnel to do business, engage with the public and keep in touch with family and friends.

Based on the online engagement guidelines,

Armed Forces and MOD staff can talk about their work online without prior authorisation from their chain of command, as long as they stay within the advice.

This stance reflects efforts underway in the US to support online engagement by US Defense forces, which have recently undergone pressure with the US Marines shutting down Marine's social media access while a security review takes place.

Increasingly in the US online engagement is being seen as another front for military activities to counter how "just one man in a cave that's hooked up to the Internet has been able to out-communicate the greatest communications society in the history of the world -- the United States," (US Army Secretary Pete Geren).