Chiefs Want to be iPad, Kindle Friendly

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stands out as a social media pioneer in the Defense Department, having launched his own Facebook page in July 2009 and is a regular Tweeter.

For the past year, Mullen posted items mostly after an event or speech, but now he intends to use social media tools to actively steer discussions ahead of events, according to a memo outlining his new social media strategy dated March 23, 2010. It was posted on Wednesday on the Defense Social Media Hub.

Navy Capt. John Kirby, Mullen's public affairs officer who wrote the memo, said Mullen and his staff need to focus on the Internet as the primary means for internal and external communications. He said this means JCS needs to move away from static forms of communication such as PDF documents and more dynamic forms that allow for the delivery of rich, multi-media content. Kirby wrote:

We must begin publishing our products with embedded links to other content, pictures and videos to meet the expectations of our on-line audiences (think iPad and Kindle friendly.

This iPad audience already includes the director of the National Security Agency, Army Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, who bought his iPad shortly after it went on sale in April.

JCS also needs to develop a mobile version of the JCS.mil to serve iPhone and Blackberry users, he said.

When Mullen and his staff prepare for a road trip or speech, he needs to use posts, tweets and blogs ahead of the event to "start driving the online conversation," Kirby said.

The numbers make it clear why Mullen and JCS need to embrace social media, he added. Facebook, Kirby wrote, is now the second most popular website in the United States behind Google, with 134 million visitors in January, with Twitter recording 23.5 million visits that month.