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For members of the PA/VI community Fall/Winter Edition NAVY IMAGERY INSIDER U S N A V Y O F F I C E O F I N F O R M A TI O N NI L NISI VERUM AMERICA’S NAVY: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD 703.614.9154

Navy Imagery Insider Fall-Winter 2013

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It’s no longer a question of if, but how Navy commands should use social media. This Navy Imagery Insider focuses on answering that question.

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Page 1: Navy Imagery Insider Fall-Winter 2013

For members of the PA/VI community Fall/Winter Edition

NAVYIMAGERYINSIDER US NAVY

OFF

ICE

O

F INFOR

MA

TION

NI L NISI VERUM

AMERICA’S NAVY: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD703.614.9154

Page 2: Navy Imagery Insider Fall-Winter 2013

AMERICA’S NAVY: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD [email protected]

DIRECTOR Christopher MaddenDEPUTY DIRECTOR Cmdr. Marc Boyd

LAYOUT/ARTDirector Tim MazurekIllustration Willie Kendrick

EDITORIALEditor Jason KellyStaff Writers Sandy Gall Jason Kelly

Contributors Mito Iinuma MCC Brock Taylor MC2 Adam Thomas

Navy Office of InformationPentagon RM 4B514Washington, D.C. 20350-1200Office: 703-614-9154 DSN: 224

Download Insider at:www.slideshare.net/NavyVisualNewsServicehttp://issuu.com/NavyVisualNewsService

DIRECTOR’S CORNERReduced resources have made support for Navy Imagery Insider a growing challenge – so regretfully this will be the last edition.

Navy Imagery Insider was developed for the Navy Public Af-fairs community to help share best practices when telling the Navy’s story through visual information. We will continue to do so by engaging the 700+ profession-als who participate in the Navy Communicators Facebook group and on the Navy’s Tumblr blog at http://usnavymedia.tumblr.com. Just search for Navy Communicators on Facebook. If you have not visited these sites, please do so and help contribute to the conversation.

To all who helped contribute to the success of this publication – too many to list here individually, thank you for your support and dedication.

Before signing off I want to discuss some specific efforts that require your continued support and feedback.

The “Official U.S. Navy App” was launched Sept. 16, 2013. Since then, we have been gathering feedback from users and making improvements to form and function. The release of Apple’s iOS 7 presented some additional challenges. A significant update was completed late December 2013 just in time for all those shiny new smart phones and tablets received over the holidays. If you have not already, please take a moment and download the app for free. Future updates will include push notifications, improvements to the photo gallery and a custom feature that will allow users to store and retrieve their favorite video, photos and news articles as a digital magazine called “My News Locker.” Go to http://navylive.dodlive.mil/?p=23521 for details on where to download the app compatible with your device.

According to a recent report, www.Navy.mil is the most visited service specific website and has some of the highest user satisfaction rates of those sites. It has even surpassed www.Defense.gov on occasion. (Information about www.Army.mil is not available because the Defense Media Activity does not host it.) The Navy’s website ranks in the top 10 of the top 50 federal government sites. Since its refresh in 2012, the site has experienced a 22 percent increase in user activity. That said, there is room for improvement – particularly within the site’s content management system (CMS).

A working group has been collaborating with the Defense Media Activity to define new requirements for a redesign of www.Navy.mil. The goal is to deliver a world-class site that allows far more flexibility for commands to populate their local pages with content that is independent of fixed news sections and galleries within the CMS. For example, right now, the only way a still photo can exist on the site is to be selected for the main gallery un-less a memorandum of understanding is signed for a command to post photos to its local page. This made sense in 2000, but not 14 years later. We hope to build a CMS that allows users to upload, caption, tag and publish a variety of content assets such as news stories, features, photos, videos and multimedia essays. The entire workflow would be independent of lead content on www.Navy.mil. While permissions and admin controls will still be required, the intent is to have stories, videos and photos loaded into the site as a true digital asset management environment. Please understand that this is a monumental task with significant coordination and will require some time to develop, test and rollout. Look for future Team PA’s for updates on our progress.

In closing, remember, the phone has been around since the 1870s – so don’t hesitate to contact the folks here in Navy Media Content Services (OI-2) at 703-614-9154 when you have questions, concerns or ideas to help make Navy communication efforts even better.

Content is king; keep it coming and thanks for all you do.

Instruction NuggetThe Navy is

now on the photo-sharing

social network Instagram (www.instagram.com/USNavy). One of Instagram’s most popular features is its ability to apply filters, which Instagram states “[transforms] the image into a memory to keep around forever.”As a result, there is an important requirement for the Navy’s use of Instagram because DoD Instruction 5040.02 still applies for social media; it prohibits the alteration of official DoD imagery beyond traditional dark room processes.

Instagram filters alter imagery beyond those processes. Therefore, photos from the Navy’s Instagram account are only shared without a filter and with the hashtag #NoFilter to clearly identify that the photo was not altered since most Instagram users apply filters. All other Navy organizations with an Instagram account need to follow this same practice.

Furthermore, Instagram is an example of a specialized social network such as Pinterest and Google+ that most Navy commands do not need. Instead, continue to send your released high-resolution images with captions to [email protected]. Your photo could be shared with Instagram’s 150 million active monthly users.

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AMERICA’S NAVY: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD703.614.9154 3

Social Media in the Navy –Not IF, But HOW By Jason Kelly, Director, U.S. Navy Emerging Media

It’s no longer a question of IF, but HOW Navy commands should use social media. This Navy Imagery Insider focuses on answering that question. It is important to know that

Your social media sites should be an integral

part of your command’s communication

strategy. Before launching a social media site

for your command, consider what you want

to accomplish. What are your communication

objectives and how do they move your

command closer to achieving its mission?

You should consider your command’s audiences. Do you want to communicate with Sailors in your command, command

leadership, family members, the local community, a broader Department of Defense audience, the American public, or another group altogether?

Just like other parts of your communication strategy, you should adapt your social media plan as your communication objectives change.

In fiscal year 2013, the Navy Emerging Media Program focused on reaching so-called one-offs, such as a Sailor’s family members, veterans and people who have an established

interest in the Navy. This year, the program is looking for opportunities to provide context to the American public – especially people who don’t have a connection to the Navy – about what the Navy is doing and why the Navy is doing it.

This strategy doesn’t mean the Navy’s flagship social media sites aren’t communicating to those one-offs, Sailors and journalists. We’re still reaching those audiences through our content.

We’re tailoring our best practices to accomplish our goal. On the next several pages, we share best practices for some of the most popular social media sites. I encourage you to adapt them for your command and visit the Navy Media Tumblr page at http://usnavymedia.tumblr.com for regular updates. As always, you may contact the emerging media team at 703-614-9154 or [email protected] for additional assistance.

there is no cookie-cutter solution.

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[email protected] AMERICA’S NAVY: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD

InsiderPerspective

Social Media in the Far East

U.S. Naval Forces Japan/Navy Region Japan received first place for Social Media Initiative in the 2012 Russell Egnor Navy Media Awards.

In making their decision, the judges said “the primary reason this entry was selected for this award is its ability to identify, know and plan content based on audience interest. Major strengths of this entry were:

• Its understanding of the differences among their social media platforms. CNFJ/CNRJ engages fans and plans content differently for [its] Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts.

• The command uses [its] various accounts to enhance community relations and provide a primary resource for [its] audiences to get relevant information.

• The command’s ability to connect with its community through measur-able success with audience-driven content planning.”

How did Commander, Naval Forces Japan Public Affairs Office’s social media team do it?

MCC Brock Taylor, MC2 Adam Thomas and Mito Iinuma explain their approach to “Social Media in the Far East.”

We operate our social media a little different than most commands because we have two distinct audiences. We have the general public with whom we aim to inform, like any good public affairs office. We also have our host nation Japanese audience. We would like to call them our “shadow audience” or sometimes “fan base.” They are the ones we try to influence and entertain while also informing. Many of our English posts make their way to Facebook (www.facebook.com/comnavforjapan). These posts are similar to what you see on most Navy Facebook pages.

Social Media in the Far East

U.S. Naval Forces Japan/Navy Region Japan received first place for Social Media Initiative in the 2012 Russell Egnor Navy Media Awards.

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CNFJ vets Japanese tweets at www.twit-ter.com/cnfj and also for U.S. Seventh Fleet at www.twitter.com/US7thflt. Right now our, CNFJ Twitter account has more than 93,500 followers and C7F has almost 58,000. It is important to note that these numbers are higher than the local and pre-fecture government offices! We would like to share a few things that we believe make our social media approach successful.

Ma and pop aren’t the only ones viewing your page.Our ultimate goal is to the share the U.S. Navy’s mission with a wide variety of audiences. Communicating our goals and intentions to the Japanese is just as important as informing our English speaking audience.

Quite frankly, we don’t have to do much to make the average military fan follow us on Twitter. Our focus is on those who are not familiar with the U.S. Navy; we want them to know about us and to be interested in our activities.

Why not introduce different aspects of the Navy by finding topics from the past, present and future? We have many Twitter followers who initially were not interested in the military, but they started to follow us after seeing the colorful cer-emonial cakes, the military working dogs, and so on. Possibilities to stir up your potential followers’ interest are unlimited. Browse through numerous photos up-loaded on the photo gallery of www.Navy.mil. You may find pictures that turn out to be a ticket for your potential followers to step into the fascinating U.S. Navy world.

Hook your audience with imagery.How many times have you scrolled down the timeline of your Facebook page pass-ing by word after endless word without stopping to read each one?

Just like your average Japanese salary man navigating the massive and complex center of Tokyo, we don’t have time to stop and read everything. If you ever travel through Tokyo, even without an understanding of reading Japanese, you can still clearly see what advertising stands out.

Advertisers know this, and they pay big bucks and use some of the most

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AMERICA’S NAVY: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD [email protected]

out-of-the-ordinary graphics to get their message seen. This could be seen at a specific area on a train car or an area outside a station where your eyes cannot avoid but see those advertisements.

Similar to Japanese advertising, eye-catching imagery will catch your audience’s attention on their Facebook page. Find that imagery that sticks out. If a giant poster of Tommy Lee Jones supporting your favorite can of coffee doesn’t get your attention among the thousands of other ads, then we don’t know what else will.

“Ye Olde” MK1 MOD 0 Navy cake.Believe it or not, sometimes it’s the cake that literally takes the cake. This might be so much for our Japanese followers, but showing an image of a cake-cutting ceremony attracts a lot of attention. Most of the time, it’s just a close-up image of the cake that attracts attention. While it may seem little, we all know the standard MK1 MOD 0 Navy cake is huge and full of pure sugar (picture cannot tell how sweet it is) and extremely colorful. Our audience is fascinated by the small things. Piece these together and you get a glimpse of our culture, in which many people are curious. Overall, there is a lack of knowledge about exactly what the Navy does from day to day, and our audience is absolutely fascinated about our Navy culture.

If you mix interesting aspects of Navy life and culture in with your daily communication, you’re bound to maintain

a robust audience, attract more followers and ultimately spread your command message wider. Every once in a while, share a piece of cake, a Sailor singing karaoke or the commanding officer trying the local food during a port visit and see how your audience reacts.

Measure of a page.If you are a Facebook page administra-tor, you have access to Insight metrics for your page. Use them!

The best part about Facebook, for example, is that it has that data call your commanding officer has been asking about in regards to social media viewership. Not every day, but at least once a week, pay a visit to your page’s admin panel section and see which posts garnered more attention than others. This is the best way to reach that goal of aligning your style of communication with the needs and interests of your audience. For example, our Region Recap video for the week of August 23 had 12,500 views, which is an increase of more than 10,000 compared to our average reach. This led us to ask what was so compelling about this video. Was it because we highlighted USS George Washington’s homecoming or Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mark Ferguson’s visit to the region? Indeed, many of our followers were interested in the return. This could be family, friends and fans of the ship. Either way, we were able to piggyback off of one area of interest, spreading our message further.

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AMERICA’S NAVY: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD703.614.9154 7

Be a Navy Live Blogger By Jason Kelly

The Navy Live blog (http://navylive.dodlive.mil/) – the official blog of the U.S. Navy – tells the story

of America’s Navy through individual perspectives. The blog features varying perspectives from the greater Navy community through posts by leaders, Sailors, family members, subject matter experts and other relevant stakeholders. In many ways, it is the hub of the Navy’s flagship social media sites because it allows us to have a longer conversation that wouldn’t be possible in just a post or tweet.

So, what makes a great Navy Live blog?

WRITE IN FIRST PERSON This is your Navy story. Be yourself because authenticity matters. If you are ghost writing, sync your writing style with the author’s voice.

BE CONVERSATIONAL The best social media content establishes a connection between the author and the audience. You can do this by writing conversationally and avoiding acronyms. Imagine

you’re talking to a complete stranger about your blog’s topic. Make your blog easy to understand. We edit blogs so they use plain-writing and AP styles.

BE TIMELY Social media users want to know what’s happening now. Contact the Navy’s Emerging Media Team at 703-614-9154 or [email protected] in advance of an event or known is-sue to discuss a possible blog. We can help you develop your blog.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE Navy Live blogs discuss issues on a “big Navy” level. That doesn’t mean issues at a local level can’t translate into a Navy Live blog. USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)’s blog about the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address is a great example of a timely blog that translated a command-level is-sue into something more. Check it out at http://1.usa.gov/1fMZJds.

BE VISUAL Another thing that made Lincoln’s blog great was its use of imagery. It went beyond just text. The blog also included a video of Lincoln’s Sailors reciting the Gettysburg Address line by line.

Blogs should be a good mix of text and imagery. If you’re submitting a Navy Live blog, send the high-resolution photos that you want used or include the photos’ VIRINs. Be sure to include the photos’ captions as well. Let us know if you want to include a video and need help transmitting it.

INCLUDE LINKS Did you pull a fact from an outside source? Does your command have a website? Include those links in your blog where you want them used.

GIVE US A PREVIEW We want your blog to be successful. We request that you send us a draft – especially if you are ghost writing – before you get it approved. It is a lot easier to provide feedback while the blog is still being written.

HAVE A CALL TO ACTION Ask a question or invite readers to leave comments and plan to reply to them. Email us the response and we’ll post it as “U.S. Navy.” This gives the response credibility.

Can readers get additional information? Tell them how to do it.

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Tips to Improve Your Facebook Page By Jason Kelly

1) Keep your posts short.

While the statistics vary slightly, shorter Facebook posts tend to do better than longer posts. Try to keep your posts to less than 80 to 100 characters or about three lines of text.

2) Be conversational.

Remember you aren’t writing a www.Navy.mil story or a news release; you’re writing for social media. Use short, con-cise and easy to understand sentences. Avoid acronyms.

3) Use an image with your post.Social media continues to become an ever-increasing visual experience. Look at your own newsfeed, which is where the majority of Facebook users see con-tent. Your newsfeed is likely filled with images. Instead of just posting a status update with text, use an image related to your post and what would’ve been your text update as your caption.

4) Rewrite your captions.

There’s a right way to caption photos for www.Navy.mil, and there’s a right way to caption photos for social media. Re-member to make your caption short and conversational. Consider starting your caption with a short phrase that sum-marizes the photo. You’re competing for people’s attention; grab it.

5) Engage with your audience.

Social media should be social. Ask a question and be prepared to answer it. If you don’t know the answer, tell the user you’re researching it. Your audience will appreciate knowing that you aren’t ignoring the question.

6) Have a call to action.

Do you want your audience to like something, talk about it, share it or visit a link? If so, say it in your post.

7) Experiment with content.Facebook Insights, which are available to administrators of a page with at least 30 likes, provides metrics about your page’s performance. Regularly review Insights to determine what content is performing the best, when your audi-ence is online, and how it is engaging with your content.

8) Mix it up.Post a variety of content: news about or relevant to your command, links, photos and videos. Your Facebook page isn’t your command website. Don’t treat it like one by just posting text status updates.

9) Draft your content.Write your posts in a program that allows you to spell check them. You wouldn’t send a news release without spell checking it. Review your content and then hit post.

10) Be professional.Remember your Facebook page repre-sents your command and the U.S. Navy. The principles of security, accuracy, pro-priety and policy apply to social media.

AMERICA’S NAVY: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD [email protected]

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AMERICA’S NAVY: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD703.614.9154 9

Say More with Less on Twitter By Jason Kelly

What is Twitter?

Twitter describes itself as “a social broadcast network that helps you create and share ideas and information instantly without barriers.”

How long is a tweet?

Tweets are limited to 140 characters, but you shouldn’t use all of them. Save at least 20 characters to allow people to retweet or comment.

What makes Twitter different?

Twitter is real-time. People share news, events and conversations that are relevant as they’re happening.

What are some common Twitter terms?

Mention: Bring a tweet to someone’s attention by using their username.If you want to start a tweet with someone’s username and want all of your followers to see it, put a period before the username. Otherwise, only users who follow both you and the other person will see it.Retweet (RT): Share a tweet with all of your followers.Modified tweet (MT): Manually retweet a message with modifications such as shortening a tweet. If you think of retweeting as quoting, a modified tweet is paraphrasing.Hashtag: The # symbol, called a hashtag, marks keywords or topics in a tweet.The use of excessive #hashtags #looks #bad and is a #common #mistake. Try to use no more than two hashtags per tweet and hashtag with a purpose. Frequently used @USNavy hashtags are #USNavy, #Breaking and #NavySAPR. @SECNAV frequently uses #PartnershipsMatter, #PresenceMatters, #PeopleMatter and #PowerMatters.Hashtags also are supported on Facebook and Google+.Direct message (DM): A private message that only you and the recipient can see.Follow: Subscribe to someone’s tweets in your timeline.

Should you link your Facebook page to your Twitter account and automatically post from Facebook to Twitter?

No, this is a common mistake that prevents the Navy Emerging Media Team from using these tweets because of the following reasons:Facebook posts that are automatically shared on Twitter are frequently truncated since they are often longer than 140 characters.Twitter uses unique terms as explained in the center column.Social networks attract different users. Some content may be more appealing to one network’s audience than another audience. For example, news articles on the Navy’s Twitter account usually receive more user engagement than on the Navy’s Facebook page. Take the time to understand the similarities and differences between your audience on each social network.If you take the time to properly use Twitter, you’ll see more engagement and a greater return on investment.

Is Twitter right for every command?

No, but it is definitely worth considering. If your unit or command isn’t on Twitter, you’re likely missing an opportunity to reach your audience.

What should I do to get started?

If you aren’t familiar with Twitter, create a personal account and use it until you become comfortable with Twitter. When you are ready to use it as a command or unit, review the Navy’s social media registration checklist at www.Navy.mil/media/smrChecklist.pdf, create your unit’s Twitter account and register it at www.Navy.mil/CommandDirectory.asp.You may be surprised how you can reach more people by saying less – in no more than 140 characters.

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AMERICA’S NAVY: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD [email protected]

What @USNavy Learnedfrom the Washington #NavyYardShootingThe public and private sector – including Twitter – cited the U.S. Navy’s use of Twitter during and after the Washington Navy Yard shooting as a best practice to keep the public up-to-date during a fast-moving news situation.

In its analysis, Twitter found @USNavy became the “official source of information for followers and the media,” and guided the online conver-sation by creating the hashtag #NavyYardShoot-ing, which resulted in 1,900 related tweets per minute at the peak of the story.

Sandy Gall, a member of the Navy’s Emerg-ing Media Team and a part of the Navy’s response on Twitter, shares what the team learned from its crisis communication.

Don’t wait for something big to happen to get familiar with the public affairs officer in charge of media queries. Build relationships on Twitter with your local media. Know who your social media influencers are and communicate with them often.

HAVE A WELL-TRAINED TEAM. Be comfortable using Twitter before a crisis occurs. Even if you’re the Twitter person on your team, make sure the rest of your public affairs colleagues understand how to use the platform. For the Navy Yard incident, we had four people dedicated to vari-ous Twitter related tasks. So, set up a training session, have your colleague sit beside you when you draft tweets, and recommend some reading. Make sure you have people in your office, other than yourself, that you trust to tweet on behalf of your command. You never know when you will need the help.

BE ABLE TO REACT QUICKLY. The first step in a crisis situation is confirmation. You may not know all the details, and that’s okay, but the people involved and the media are starving for information. The days of waiting for that perfectly polished press release are over. News is happening and it’s happening now.

Instead of waiting to release a statement until you have the full sto-ry, ask yourself, “What do you know

now?” This is where being a trusted advisor is critical. Talk to leadership and emphasize the need to get out ahead of the press release. For the Washington Navy Yard shooting, we knew there was an active shooter, we knew the loca-tion and we knew about our people. The ability to tweet that information – even before the full press release was created – helped to frame the story and controlled misinformation.

SENDING TWEETS IS ONLY HALF OF YOUR JOB. Twitter is complex. A lot is happening all the time and it’s hard to keep up without diligently monitoring. The @USNavy team has several established monitoring streams that it checks multiple times throughout the day, but in an instance like the Washington Navy Yard shooting, they weren’t enough. I recommend setting up the following streams that you and your team should monitor daily:

• Your handle’s mentions• Your retweets• Keywords associated with your command.

We know not everyone uses our handle @USNavy so we search for mentions of Navy, USNavy, #USNavy and @USNavy.

• Campaign specific keyword searches (i.e. “Navy and LCS”)

In a crisis situation, we adapt and add streams based on how people are talking about the incident. During the shooting, we started the hashtag #NavyYardShooting to make it easier to track conversations about the event, but we also monitored mentions of “Navy + shooting.”

ONE VOICE. When something of this scale happens, it’s best to present one, united and informed Navy voice to the public. There will be a lot of questions. People will dig for information. It’s your job to identify the right voice. Identify-ing the appropriate spokesperson and directing people to that person is your job and will, again, go a long way to help minimize misinformation.

During the shooting, @USNavy was the “digital spokesperson” for the most part, but con-flicting reports occurred from on-scene accounts. Some of these reports were untrue or uncon-firmed at the time. Multiple Navy spokespersons were then quoted causing confusion and made @USNavy tweets appear uncoordinated.

HAVE A PLAN. Crisis situations often follow a bell curve. As you can see in the graph below, there was a point where conversations minimized. When that occurs, there isn’t a need to post minute-by-minute updates, but you should still be an active participant in the conversations.

For days following the shooting, there were spikes in conversations when new information

was released. However, there will still be people wanting more information. Continue to monitor and be ready to direct people to the correct point of contact for more information on your topic.

Editor’s note: Twitter’s analysis is available at https://media.twitter.com/success/tweeting-a-breaking-news-story.

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AMERICA’S NAVY: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD703.614.9154 11

Community Concerns:

Listen, Think, Reply By Jason Kelly

It is easy to just post information on your social media sites.

However, social media is about more than just posting information. It is about having a conversation.

As a Navy public affairs specialist, you need to be prepared to engage your audience. Think of yourself as a community manager. Every time that you post or respond to a message, you are making an official statement on behalf of your commanding officer and the Navy. This is no different than respond-ing to a media or legislative inquiry. So, while the medium may differ between the physical and virtual worlds, the same principles that you learned at the Defense Information School apply – with some exceptions.

Listen. Think. Reply.• Ensure that you understand the question or comment.• Acknowledge the user’s concerns if appropriate. This

is not the same as validating the user’s concerns.Wrong:

Better:(User’s name), thank you for sharing your concern with us….

• Be polite, honest and professional.• Do not argue with a user.• Do not use “text speak” such as ur, j/k, etc.• You wouldn’t argue with a reporter or use slang during an

on-camera interview. So, don’t do it on social media.Wrong:

Better:Crews are repairing a water main break at the intersection of Main Street and Hometown Avenue. Please avoid this area until further notice.

Answer fully and concisely, ensuring that you maintain security, accuracy, propriety and policy limitations.

• Respond uniquely to each post. Don’t copy and paste, or sound like a robot. Those messages appear automated and insincere.

• Staff a user’s question if you do not know the answer. Let the user know that you are researching the answer. Social media doesn’t keep business hours. However, your users are more likely to understand that you need additional time to research their concerns if you tell them you’re looking into the issue. Other-wise, it might appear as though you are ignoring the issue. Post the response after it has been cleared by a release authority.

Example: (User’s name), thank you for sharing your concern with us about the dog park. We are forwarding your concerns to our environmental division. We’ll update you as soon as we know anything.

• Understand that social media is not the appropriate venue to discuss all concerns. Encourage users to use Interactive Customer Evaluation surveys or the commanding officer’s open-door session.

• Provide users as much information as possible for other resources.• Educate and empower your users.

Example: (User’s name), thank you for sharing your concern with us about the pharmacy wait times. While social media is great resource to provide feed-back, it is not always the most effective. Did you know you that can submit an Interactive Customer Evaluation survey at http://yournavywebsite.mil or talk to the patient advocate at 301-555-1212? If you still need assistance, the com-manding officer has an open-door session every Monday from 4 to 6 p.m. in his office, 123 Any Street.

Understand when it is the appropriate time to leave a conversation.If, after you’ve completed the above steps and the conversation is

still unproductive, leave the conversation. You’ve done your best to engage, educate and empower the user.

• Don’t post that you’re excusing yourself from the conversation because it could be viewed as confrontational.

• Don’t delete posts or comments unless they violate the standard DoD social media user agreement – even if they are critical of your command or organization.

• Don’t delete your own posts if you made an error in fact. You es-sentially released a 21st century press release. It is possible that a significant portion of your audience already saw it. If you delete the post, it may appear that you are trying to hide your error. Instead, correct the record by posting a new comment to the original post that acknowledges the error and provides the correct information.

Example:

Social media has blurred the lines between command information, media relations and community outreach. Your social network’s audience likely in-cludes users from each of those categories and provides them an opportunity to share their concerns and ideas with you. Listen to them. You may not be able to solve everyone’s problems over social media, but you can understand what issues matter to them.

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AMERICA’S NAVY: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD [email protected]

[AP Style Guide]app Short for application. Acceptable on first reference.click-thrus A way of measuring how many people click a link online to see its destination site.check in (v.), check-in (n. and adj.) Sharing a location via a mobile device using an app such as FourSquare.Google, Googling, Googled An informal verb for searching for information on the Internet. Always capitalized.iPad, iPhone Use IPad/IPhone when the word starts a sentence or headline.trending Often used as a verb to describe a topic is getting a lot of attention online. Do not use without context and explanation. (i.e. The topic of “Sailor” was trending on Twitter yesterday.)tweet (n. and v.) Message posted via Twitter containing 140 characters or fewer. The verb is to tweet, tweeted.Wikipedia An online encyclopedia whose entries are created and edited by its users. Should not be used as a primary source of information.

[Schedule of Events]Social Media Week

Feb. 17 - 21www.socialmediaweek.org

Defense Information School, Fort Meade, Md.www.dinfos.dma.mil

Advanced Electronic JournalismClass 20: Feb. 18 - March 18Class 30: May 1-30

Joint Expeditionary Public AffairsClass 20: Feb. 18 – March 3

Content ManagementClass 10: March 10 - April 4

Intermediate PhotojournalismClass 20: March 12 - May 8Class 30: May 14 - July 15

Intermediate Public Affairs SpecialistClass 20: March 17-28Class 30: June 16-30

Visual Information ManagementClass 20: April 28 - May 9

Joint Intermediate Public AffairsClass 20: May 19 - July 2

Public Affairs QualificationClass 40: May 27 - Aug. 1

Combat Camera LeadershipClass 10: June 2-13

National Association of Broadcasters Conference 2014

Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nev.April 5 - 10, Exhibits April 7 - 10www.nabshow.com

Photoshop World Conference and ExpoCobb Galleria Centre, Atlanta, Ga.April 8 - 10www.photoshopworld.com

LINKS to KNOW

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geeAll references to commercially available sites and services are provided for informational purposes only, without Department of the Navy endorsement.

Defense Information Schoolwww.dinfos.dma.mil (New URL)DigitalGov University On-Demand TrainingFree web-based training on a growing list of subjects such as analytics, mobile, plain writing and writing for the web, social media, usability and accessibility, and web content creation and maintenance.www.howto.gov/training/on-demandHDR CremeReference website and community for high-definition range photography that allows photographers to share their work, view thousands of pictures and learn through tutorials about HDR imaging.www.hdrcreme.comHowTo.govThis U.S. General Services Administration website helps government agencies deliver a better customer experience to citizens by sharing new ideas, common challenges, lessons learned and successes across government.www.howto.gov

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