Tue, Aug 11, 2009
Social Media Scanned To Monitor High Profile Events
When Air Force One flew unannounced
over the Statue of Liberty for publicity photos, government sources
used social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube to
gauge public reaction to the event. And they are finding it to be
an increasingly useful tool in tracking public backlash to
high-profile events. One Air Force document said of the event "No
positive spin is possible," admitting that the message is becoming
more difficult to control in the new endless digital media
cycle.
Military services limit access to the so-called "Web 2.0", and
the Marine Corps recently made its ban official. But the Air Force
has a special "Combat Information Cell" set up specifically to
monitor blogs, social media sites, and other internet sources for
public reaction to major events. According to the Associated Press,
in the case of the Air Force One flyover of the Statue of Liberty,
The Combat Information Cell monitored about one "Tweet" per
minute. The first assessment of the event said "Web site blog
comments 'furious' at best." Local reporting of the flyover was
"very critical, highlighting scare factor," it added. Media
coverage over the next 24 hours "will focus on local hysteria and
lack of public notification," the cell predicted. "Blogs will
continue to be overwhelmingly negative."
"Damage control requires timely counter-information," but given
the pace at which the story spread, that was not an option, the
assessment said. The recommendation was that the government admit
it had made a mistake, and that it would not happen again.
Air Force One File Photo
John Verdi of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in
Washington monitoring social networking sites can be problematic
because participation is based on trust. "Lots of times individuals
upload private or sensitive information that they expect to share
with their friends or family and not the whole Internet world,"
Verdi told the AP. "It would certainly be a major problem if the
government were accessing that information under false
pretenses."
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