Posts By Frederick P. Wellman

Lessons from the Vice President’s ‘journalist-in-a-closet’ incident

It seems a reporter from the Orlando Sentinel spent the better part of an evening fundraiser last week headlined by Vice President Joe Biden locked in a storage closet, news of which made its way onto the Drudge Report. Everyone is bending over backwards to dig their way out of the embarrassment but for thoseRead… Read more »

Public Affairs Cuts in the DoD Budget Efficiencies Memo (UPDATED)

The long awaited budget cutting efficiencies promised by Secretary of Defense Gates were outlined in a decision memo signed on Monday, 14 March, 2011 and now making its way around the Pentagon much to the chagrin of many in the building. I did a quick pull of the specific hits in the public affairs andRead… Read more »

The Department of Defense gained a social media beachhead in 2010

There is no question that 2010 will go down as the year that social media became a normal part of the communications arsenal for the Department of Defense. The year began with a withering battle raging over embracing the medium at all and finished with its near wholesale adoption across the department. While still aRead… Read more »

Kit Kat and Government Social Media – Lessons from the Nestle’ vs. Greenpeace debacle

If you follow the social media and PR news cycle you have probably heard by now about the mess Nestle’ has found itself in on its Facebook page while dealing with a coordinated campaign by Greenpeace against its use of palm oil in its products. There is already a host of blog posts and articlesRead… Read more »

Study of Military Facebook Pages

My company, JANSON Communications, released today a study of military Facebook pages. The study examines the use of Facebook pages by the U.S. military to identify trends, best practices and typical uses. JANSON’s Research and Analysis team examined over 680 military pages during two weeks in January and grouped the pages into four category types;Read… Read more »

DoD Publishes a Common Sense Approach to Social Media

The long awaited Department of Defense Social Media policy was announced with much fanfare Friday and it is an incredibly well thought out common sense approach that has public affairs officers world wide rejoicing. It has been a long time coming for the evangelists of new media in the ranks who have been battling forRead… Read more »

Shooting and Blizzard Show the Potential of Social Media in a Crisis

Social media channels are powerful communication tools normally but when incorporated into your crisis action plan they can add a valuable weapon to the government public affairs arsenal. Two recent events on Army installations with very different results demonstrated this clearly. The reviews aren’t close to being done on all the things that went rightRead… Read more »

Social Media–Cause they’re already bad mouthing you anyway

I think one of the most compelling arguments to engage in the social media world for government public relations folks simply lies in being part of the conversation that is occurring already. This has always been obvious to me but it really came to mind while I attended the Department of Defense All Services SocialRead… Read more »

The Virtual World is Flat- How social media is helping good ideas get heard

The Army is probably about as stratified and hierarchical an organization as you will find where everyone has a place in the system from Private to General. That system has existed for literally thousands of years but I believe the social media revolution is creating a virtual flattening like never seen before where anyone withRead… Read more »