On February 26, 2011, the Defense Department announced its long awaited policy on Social Media giving the green light to social media usage with certain caveats. It reiterated that each command should have a social media strategy established and executed. Likewise, each military family (or for that matter, any family using social media) should establish its own social media strategy. The primary purpose is simple “to keep your loved ones safe and your online personality appropriate.”

If you have children, especially tweens and teenagers, knowledge is your most valuable friend. A recent Pew Research Center survey showed that 72% of teenagers were actively using social media and 71% of young adults. It is a huge part of our life – we stay connected with family, friends, and deployed loved ones on a daily basis.

To help your family establish a successful social media strategy, we have outlined the following 5 step process:

1. Become Educated

• Determine which social media sites are being used by your children such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, etc. Research the site’s guidelines and policies. For example, Facebook requires that an individual be 13 years or older in order to have a personal account.
• Use the Privacy Settings to protect yourself and your family members.  The Defense Department has two websites that contain relevant and useful information about recommended security settings. The Defense Department’s “Social Media Hub” provides a section called “Education and Training" which provides training on security settings for Facebook. Their website does a great job aggregating all social media related activity and communication.

2. Set a Social Media Timer -- No doubt, it is easy to get carried away with Facebook.  Therefore, establish a healthy guideline for how much time can be spent each day on social media. This includes access via laptops, desktops and mobile devices.  As a family, determine what part of your week will be “offline time.” This is a chance for you and your family to reconnect and communicate face-to-face without the constant interruptions of text messages, emails, YouTube videos, etc. It is extremely important that your children learn valuable interpersonal skills.

3. Practice Appropriateness -- In order to help you establish what is appropriate online, one should think about the four “P’s” - Did you post anything that you would not want your parents, principal, predators, or police to see? This applies to your pictures as well as conversations. Your profile picture and image should be a direct reflection of the person you are offline. This is a real education opportunity! Parents need to help guide children with what is considered “appropriate.” For example, your 14 year old daughter may think nothing about posting the following on her Facebook account, “Dad is leaving for Afghanistan tomorrow and mom is working full time, it is going to be very lonely at home during the day.” However, this post could alert a predator to the fact that a beautiful, 14 year old girl will be home alone during the day. This is a great learning opportunity to share the importance of posting "safe" messages online.

4. Respect Confidentiality -- It is important to consider the “confidentiality” of the information you are posting on your social media sites. The following are several essential guidelines (please share this critical information with your children prior to allowing them to have personal accounts):
• Personal information should be carefully guarded. Never post your address, phone number, birthdate, social security number, financial accounts, or age.
• Beware of geotags and location based social networks such as Foursquare. Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification to photographs, video, websites, and SMS messages. Geotags are automatically embedded with smartphones. Posting a supposing innocent photo on your Facebook account could alert the enemy to a US military location. With cyber predators, this safety tip should also be applied to everyday life for families, especially teenagers, because it establishes patterns and locations.
• Deployment schedules, location sensitive information, and classified information should never be posted on social media sites. Social media sites are public forums not private.

5. Engage Regulary -- Once the social media accounts are established, engage with your kid's account:

• .Review their account periodically. Yes, you should expect to not only be their “friend” but also have access to the account.
• Ask direct and intentional questions:
  • Do you really know all of your “friends?”
  • Does anyone in your group send you mean messages?
  • Have you ever been asked to meet someone in person that you just met online
    

For military families, there is one more element to the social media strategy: Consideration. While it would be reassuring to hear your spouse say, “Everything is going to be okay,” there will be times that you should not share everything on Facebook about your day. The fact that the garage door broke, the toddler sprayed the hose into the window pretending to be a fireman, and your teenager lost her iphone would cause worry for the husband that just returned from a day of carefully navigating car bombs and landmines.  Likewise, your spouse would not share the near-death experiences of the day out of concern that it would create fear and worry at home. It is a delicate and deliberate balance of communication based on consideration.

At The Protocol Institute, we are extremely grateful and appreciative for the incredible sacrifice and service of our military families. While writing this article, we were fortunate to hear the thoughts and stories from military families all over the world currently serving our country. Thank you!

The Protocol Institute offers eLearning courses accessible anytime, anywhere with rich, engaging interactivity. We use technology to teach and equip future leaders and citizens with basic life skills to successfully connect both online and offline. Take one out for a test drive: Experience for yourself this state-of-the-art learning environment by taking a free eLearning course, exclusive to Macaroni Kid subscribers.

Visit www.theprotocolinstitute.com, click on eLearning courses and use coupon code MKMIL at checkout for the free The Professional Series – Social Media. Coupon valid until April 15, 2011.