I think that was WhatsApp or Snapchat.
Tik Tok. Ive a lass that works in my office shes 22.Apparently the age group that encompasses most of her followers on Tik Tok is 9!
I think that’s a step too far, but limiting it to “official accounts” is something to be pushed, if they want some random squaddie with an account pick very carefully and make it official.
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I think there’s a lot of value in less official accounts being able to engage with their followers etc.
Having said that the official accounts of a lot of RN ships are great and some RAF stations are starting to catch up too.
Ignoring social media in its entirety is not an option any longer.
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In the corporate world it’s actively encouraged for a person to be behind an account, not a random brand. People want to talk to, and hear from, people. Not a label.
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What I mean is that you have less official feeling accounts but still accountable. So not allow any mug to start an account in name/unit.
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As much as I think SM is the scourge of society and it’s demise couldn’t come too soon, we are stuck with it and whichever brand the cadets are using we need to be. It does mean having someone with the time and inclination to manage it if it’s being officially used by the sqn. We have two members of staff who seem quite happy thumbing their lives away.
Whatever I’ve seen written about tik tok in the press, it sems to short music/dance/acting piece oriented. Quite how that fits with us I’m not sure, unless it’s people faffing around doing something stupid.
Its moments like this that make me happy that apart from Faceache and LinkedIn I’m a rather well developed Social Media luddite!
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LinkedIn is far and away the worst one for the constant narcissistic preening that crops up on it.
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It’s soooooo desperate for you to interact with it as well. Facebook is bad, but LinkedIn is constantly sending connection suggestions (often disguised as requests), updates, and suggestions of things for you to comment on.
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Twitter is not a demographic we should be engaging with. Nor should individual officers have accounts like some b list celebrity
Everyone under their command hates it, thinks it’s cringey and the majority of people under their command spend time ripping them and their content.
That goes for the emergency services too. It’s absolute drivel. And when SNCOs and Officers are constantly getting caught out using social media in countries they shouldn’t be, it makes it worse.
By all means have a Forces driven social, and keep up with recruitment. But it should be heavily censored and monitored. This constant send of drivel and all the officers giving each other pats in the back and massaging eachs other ego is vomit inducing, the officers aren’t paid to be on Twitter gobbing off about how amazing they are. They are paid to do a job, and it annoys and sickens everyone else under their command when they waste time doing it.
Especially when they rock up to an exercise, take a picture, then proceed to post in on some ridiculous social media, without getting everyone’s consent for the photograph. We have had numerous complaints from lads to get pictures on social media removed because of various reasons, from PERSEC from Northern Ireland and for SF aspirations.
Maybe if the officers and chain of command stop messing around on social media, they could drag the forces back from the toilet. Morale is through the floor, retention is Failing. Maybe if the chain of command connected with those under them instead of randoms.
Not to mention the ridiculous idea of trying to force lads to download fitness apps and social media to post online their “workouts”, it flies in the face of PERSEC.
As with any platform, it has the ability to be misused.
Put rules in place, follow them, penalise those who break the rules. Ie, treat people like adults.
You don’t like social media. Fine. But plenty do. And most importantly, it’s not going away.
The forces (including cadet forces) already have enough problems by being stuck in the past. None of us improve if we just perpetuate that.
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The biggest problem with SM is people seem to use it like they’re talking, which where if you say something in a group verbally there isn’t really a record you’ve said it, but on SM it’s there and can be transmitted globally in the blink of an eye. Similarly with photos. They get themselves into a right pickle as a result, as denying it is impossible.
I’ve sat in restaurants and seen people photo their meals and send it to people. WTF is that about.
Our manager suggested setting up a whatsapp I and 2 others declined the offer and another has come off the group as it became filled with non work related rubbish after a couple of days.
So as much as we are stuck with it, it doesn’t necessarily make it good or useful. We have a closed FB group, but people put drivel on it which meets with my abject disapproval and one of the staff puts when we are having intakes on local town ones they subscribe to. The only useful thing seems to be the money making via advertising for the people who own them and so called ‘influencers’. Although I did see the latter have been suffering a cut in “earnings” recently which is a shame. Maybe time to get a proper job.
It’s not about not liking social media. It has its place. If that floats your boat, then on you go. And for cadets I could see it being a good recruiting tool because it’s a youth club, catering to that demographic.
But it’s place is not undermining management and professionalism of an Armed Forces. The UKs Military has become a laughing stock to a lot of countries. Not to mention many countries harvesting the data and information.
Maybe if the Officers spent less time worrying about their online presence or what they can post to make themselves look good, they can do the job they were hired to do. All it does it make themselves look like a joke, and the people under their command cringe and not take them seriously.
And arguably, yes it is going away. Much like MySpace, Bebo etc they all had their era. The difference being nowadays they employ various manipulation techniques but more and more people are turning away and closing social media accounts, Twitter is reportedly going down, less hits and content etc, and let’s not forget they still have a huge pornography problem.
I am interested to know why you consider that Twitter users are not a “demographic that we should be engaging with”.
It seems to me that Twitter attracts a very wide demographic, and if we were to arbitrarily decide not to engage with anyone who happens to have a Twitter account we might find ourselves a touch thin on the ground.
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People seem to forget a large % of companies in the world including the largest now have dedicated teams who focus on how thier company can utilise social media in the most effective way…and one can make a very successful career out of it…the SM manager for the company I work for will be not far of a 6 figure salary.
The question I ask is…why is it so bad for us then if larger corporations deem it fine
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It’s about how it’s used not if it’s used.
I have access to a work social media account which I sail pretty close to the wind with. (I’ve been quite mean about suspects who have been arrested in a humorous way and I’ve also got a habit of using a certain left wing hashtag in a different context so that we appear in their feeds).
However I don’t post images of people’s faces (staff or public) unless I get their permission first, you will never see a “hilarious” TilTok style video and if one of the other users (it’s a team account) posts one I’ll take it down and send them an email not to be a cretin. The aim is that the account is interesting, informative and amusing, but not at the cost of the dignity of our office and I would expect military Social Media to stick to a similar ethos.
If that was the case why has the army invested in a brigade of specialists for information ops etc?
Maybe its due to posts like this with cadets dancing on lockers. Which has encouraged the powers that be to advise against use of tik tok…
If it wasn’t for the bed and mattress I’d call that a hoax. The room looks in too good repair to be any accommodation we would get. 
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