August 26, 2009: The Military and Web 2.0

It seems the Marines have banned Facebook, Twitter, and a host of social networking sites from its bases. Not too much of a surprise; after all, you don't want soldiers to get sucked into Mafia Wars, right?

Wrong, according to the Pentagon's social media czar, Price Floyd -- that's right, the Pentagon has a social media czar (although they call him "Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs"). "We need to be everywhere men and women in uniform are and the public is. If that's MySpace and YouTube, that's where we need to be, too," said Floyd.  Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agrees; he's been Twittering for about three months. And last June, the Army directed all its bases to allow access to Facebook.

"It's an interesting time to be alive" seems like such an understatement. Read the full story on CNN.

-- Paul Chapman