Air Combat Command opens access to social media sites

  • Published
  • By Harry J. Lundy
  • Air Combat Command Public Affairs
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (ACCNS) --  Starting May 1, bases across Air Combat Command will have access to more than 30 social media websites.

The decision to allow open access to the sites was based on a Department of Defense directive published in February, where officials highlighted the capabilities of social media.

Testing began March 30 at five Pacific Air Force bases. The implementation schedule remained on time, and Air Force Space Command, Air Education and Training Command and Air Mobility Command bases began providing access to social media sites April 26.

Col. Joe Soblousky, chief of the warfighter technology division in ACC's Communications Directorate, said the directorate has been looking at social media access for awhile. The directorate has tested it and looked at potential impacts on the network. Everything went well and ACC will begin allowing access to social media platforms in stages.

"Thirty-five sites will be opening up for Air Combat Command very quickly," Colonel Soblousky said. "And those 35, we believe, are the most common and impacting for our Airmen."

Some of the most popular sites cleared for access are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo Mail.

Social media will also allow Airmen to tell the ACC story.

"It is important for ACC to be involved in the social media forum because if we're not involved, someone else is going to tell the story for us," said Tech. Sgt. Amy Robinson, ACC Public Affairs Internal Information noncommissioned officer in charge. "If we don't have these sites, we're not going to get the word out. People aren't going to know the great things that our Airmen are doing."

The commander of ACC, Gen. William Fraser III, has also entered the social media forum, and people can follow him on www.twitter.com by entering @ACCBoss.

Currently, ACC maintains an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

"Since February. we have more than tripled our Facebook fans," Sergeant Robinson said. "We just passed 700 today, and on Twitter, we have 394 followers, so we've more than doubled our presence on Twitter."

Colonel Soblousky said opportunities exist in enabling and empowering Airmen to use the capabilities of social networking.

"Every day we ask them to do incredible feats and they accomplish those incredible feats," he said. "So I have to tell you that with the trust and confidence I have in our Airmen, I know they will do the right thing."

The following tips are provided for users accessing social media sites:
- Operational security should always be a consideration when Airmen engage in social media; there are always consequences to what is written.
- Review appropriate Air Force instructions and guidance thoroughly prior to posting content on social media sites.
- Users have sole responsibility for what they post.
- Users must not post any defamatory, libelous, vulgar, obscene, abusive, profane, threatening, hateful, racially, ethnically, or otherwise offensive or illegal information or material.
- Users must not post classified or sensitive information.
- Users must not post any information that would infringe upon the proprietary, privacy or personal rights of others.
- Airmen can discuss issues related to their career field or personal experiences; however, they should not discuss areas of expertise of which they have no firsthand knowledge.

Additional references include: AFI 35-113, Chapter 15, Social Media; AFI 33-129 (Section 2), Use of Internet Resources by Government Employees; AFI 35-107, Public Web Communications; or DoDD 5500.7-R, Joint Ethics Regulation, subsection 2-301, Use of Federal Government Resources.