By Airman 1st Class Kat Lynn Justen
11th Wing Public Affairs website and new media management specialist
New media is a powerful communication tool that has revolutionized the way people across the globe interact with one another. It is no wonder then, that the U.S. military has recognized its vast potential for connecting and communicating with servicemembers, their families, retirees and the general public. In light of this revolution, Andrews Air Force Base opened up its government personal computer systems to allow Andrews members access to social media sites earlier this year. Since then, units from Joint Base Andrews have collectively set up more than two dozen social media sites.
As a result, Joint Base Andrews members now have accessibility to a myriad of new media sites geared toward keeping them informed on base activities, exercises, clubs, news and entertainment.
The 11th Wing, the host wing at Joint Base Andrews, alone established and operates five social media sites to include Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Photobucket and WordPress.
The Joint Base Andrews Facebook page can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/jointbaseandrews. Anyone can post to the wall, comment, like, download photos and watch videos from our page.
The Joint Base Andrews YouTube page can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/user/JointBaseAndrews and includes commander’s calls, presidential speeches, mission and U.S. Air Force Band and Honor Guard videos.
The Joint Base Andrews Twitter page is currently reserved for some of our higher interest items such as major events, news, and exercises. You can become a follower here: http://twitter.com/AndrewsAirForce.
Our Photobucket site is populated with downloadable, free photos from around Andrews. Check out all of the Andrews imagery here: http://s984.photobucket.com/home/JointBaseAndrews/index.
WordPress is a developing blog called “Just another day at Andrews …” and includes commentary from Joint Base Andrews members, which can be seen here: http://jointbaseandrews.wordpress.com/.
For more information on unit Facebook pages, check out the “Favorites” section on the Joint Base Andrews Facebook page.
Everyone is welcome to submit content to 316wg.pa.newmedia@afncr.af.mil. Submission does not guarantee publication. For more information, call 301-981-4512.
2 Comments
Your efforts in thie area of social media are impressive.
With over two dozen social media sites, do you find that your followership numbers and the time/energy you put into this have paid off? Would there be any advantage to reducing the number of sites and therefore increasing engagement on those?
Thank you for the insight and compliment. We hope that continued efforts will driver further traffic to our sites in order to more effectively and efficiently communicate the Air Force mission and all Andrews has to offer to our fans and followers. What’s great about the installation is the diversity of the mission and the units managing them, to include the 89th Airlift Wing, which oversees “Air Force One,” the 113th Wing, Naval Air Facility Washington, the 459th Air Refueling Wing, 79th Medical Wing, U.S. Air Force Band and Honor Guard, not to mention all of the other services, fitness, legal, chaplaincy and administrative units. Collectively, more than a dozen agencies manage all of the social media sites to create a truly joint network of communication. The official Joint Base Andrews Facebook page was established under the 11th Wing command as a communication conduit to collectively illustrate and advertise to a base wide audience by pulling certain elements from the other agencies. Because of the various units that operate the pages, it may prove difficult to consolidate, however, the JBA page strives to be that one-stop-shop for new media needs.