Army Facebook 2.0
My last Blog entry on this subject led to a very interesting conversion with a writer from Fast Company magazine. Ellen McGirt called to get some more details on what the Army was considering regarding Facebook. During that conversation I was able to paint a picture in which the social networks in Facebook could serve as an organizational structure to bring together people who want to train together in a shared environment. Something like this would work for entertainment gamers as well. Imagine that you want to plan out your tactics and then everyone meet to launch into the game at the same time. Facebook is one medium in which you could share information and do the finishing touches before jumping in.
Is the Army working on using Facebook as a group training portal to its online games? No, not yet. But we are talking about what Facebook means to us. What value does it present? What tools could be usefully embedded into or launched from it? Given our security limitations, it is highly unlikely that we would do something like this using the real Facebook. Instead we might instantiate a private version inside of government networks - something similar to what we have already done with Google Earth.
Oh, my talk with Ellen also convinced me to create my own Facebook account. I find it quite fun to play with all of the tools available. I just don't have any friends in there yet, so imagine a party with just 2 people there. But, I have been building quite a network at LinkedIn. It seems my associates are a little more "serious" about their connections and prefer something based on resume stats, rather than personal photos and maps of travel.
BTW - I am currently in Kansas City, MO. As a result of using the travel mapping widget on Facebook I looked at the rental car map and asked, "How far is it to Nebraska from here?" Because I just realized that Nebraska is one state I have not visited yet. The rental agent told me that people who go to Nebraska do not come back. I think he meant it was a great place to live.
Is the Army working on using Facebook as a group training portal to its online games? No, not yet. But we are talking about what Facebook means to us. What value does it present? What tools could be usefully embedded into or launched from it? Given our security limitations, it is highly unlikely that we would do something like this using the real Facebook. Instead we might instantiate a private version inside of government networks - something similar to what we have already done with Google Earth.
Oh, my talk with Ellen also convinced me to create my own Facebook account. I find it quite fun to play with all of the tools available. I just don't have any friends in there yet, so imagine a party with just 2 people there. But, I have been building quite a network at LinkedIn. It seems my associates are a little more "serious" about their connections and prefer something based on resume stats, rather than personal photos and maps of travel.
BTW - I am currently in Kansas City, MO. As a result of using the travel mapping widget on Facebook I looked at the rental car map and asked, "How far is it to Nebraska from here?" Because I just realized that Nebraska is one state I have not visited yet. The rental agent told me that people who go to Nebraska do not come back. I think he meant it was a great place to live.
Labels: Ellen McGirt, facebook, LinkedIn, military training, Nebraska, social network
posted by Roger Smith at
3:56 PM
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