Recently, Wired posted an article that demonstrates that the USDOD’s struggle with social media continues unabated - “Air Force Backtracks on Social Network Ban“.

Part of the problem is generational, and part of it is organizational. The generational part is the military is coming to a crash realization that the latest wave of recruits are digital natives, who expect to be networked and communicate 24-7 worldwide and to learn in digital, collaborative environments. To quote a military specialist at a recent focus group I conducted, “You used to be able to drop a manual in front of a soldier, and tell them to learn it. That doesn’t work any more.” Soldiers are using mobile devices to find information “on demand” and teach themselves what they need, outside of approved and expected channels.

The other part is organizational. Parting conclusions from this focus group - discussing how to integrate social / digital media innovations into the military - concluded that the barrier between small, creative digital companies and military acquisition, procurement and services opportunities may be more or less insurmountable. There’s a tremendous language and cultural discrepency between the two communities, and while there may be interest in the part of small private sector companies to help the military “come up to speed”, the only realistic path to partnership is navigating traditional USDOD procurement or attempting to partner with big defense contractors like Lockheed, Raytheon, Evans & Sutherland etc.

And to borrow another quote from the focus group - “That’s like being trapped with a bear. When the bear loses interest in its other food, you’re on the menu.”

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