TechFlaps | Waves of Technology: New US Army Recruits

New US Army Recruits | Facebook & Twitter

US Army Seeking to reach out to the younger audience, the US Army has launched a page on the world's largest social online network Facebook and Twitter, a free social messaging utility that has become an internet sensation.

Army spokeswoman Lindy Kyzer told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Tuesday, April 28.

"Young people today don't watch the evening news. They're friends [who] are sharing information through Twitter, or Facebook. If we have no presence on those spaces, then we're not telling the army's story."

Kyzer said the Army's Online Social Media Division was created in March and its official Facebook page was launched last week.

She noted that the Facebook page, which now has more than 8,000 fans, has entries from wives of soldiers seeking advice from other military families, youth getting ready to enlist and veterans sending prayers to troops.

Founded in 2004, Facebook's membership was initially restricted to students of the Harvard University.It was later expanded to other universities in the US and later to any student with a university email address from all over the world.

Facebook has grown to more than 70 million users worldwide to be the second social networking website after MySpace.The US Navy's Pacific Command has its own Facebook page with plenty of photos.General Ray Odierno, who commands US forces in Iraq, has a Facebook page with more than 5,000 friends.

Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time that has grown in popularity in recent months.The Air Force has also launched its Twitter service.

Kyzer believes that once the army re-taps into Twitter service it would attract more fans than Hollywood star Ashton Kutcher who has one million audience on the San Francisco micro-blogging service.

"If he has a million followers, why can't we? We're the US Army."

The Army's Twitter effort has gotten off to a slow start with about 5,000 followers since its launch last year.

Many blame that on Pentagon computer security restrictions, set out in 2007, which limit soldiers' access to networking sites.

The rules bar soldiers in war zones, including Iraq or Afghanistan, from accessing Facebook or Twitter on computer networks at military bases.

They are also blamed for stifling blogging by soldiers from the battlefront, even as some senior commanders write blogs or maintain a Facebook page.

"It's unfortunate and makes things more difficult in the deployed environment, but we have great programs set up so that you have Internet cafes in deployed situations and things like that,"

Kyzer said.

Facebook

Website : www.facebook.com
Location : Palo Alto, California, United States
Founded : February 1, 2004 | Cambridge, Massachusetts
Employees : 500 (March 2008)*
Annual Revenue : US$150 million (est.)*
*As per Wikipedia

Facebook is a social networking website launched on February 4, 2004, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, when he was a student at Harvard University.The free-access website is privately owned and operated by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves.

Twitter

Website : www.twitter.com
Service : Micro-Blogging
Available Language(s) : English, Japanese
Location : South Park, San Francisco, California
Founded : March 2006

Twitter is social networking and micro-blogging site that allows users to post their latest updates. An update is limited by 140 characters and can be posted through three methods: web form, text message, or instant message.The service was started by Obvious Corp, and had launched the Japanese version in April 2008.