Exercise, Exercise, Exercise - Twitter Sheppard AFB

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Vernon Cunningham
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Air Force-approved social media sites are available for use on government computers and will play a role in the upcoming exercise at Sheppard June 1-3.

Team Sheppard has access to several social media sites geared specifically for the base population and surrounding community, and is run by the 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs office. These sites include a Sheppard Facebook page, Twitter account and a channel on YouTube.

The Sheppard website, Twitter and Facebook tools will be used during the exercise to relay information such as generalized exercise messages, notification of traffic delays and congestion and awareness of gate closures and general information that will help the community's knowledge of exercise activities without compromising the actual exercise.

Sheppard's Public Affairs office tracked the base website's communication effectiveness and received inputs that led to embracing social media sites as the best way to keep the base population, and dependents, informed.

"Our goal is to be able to communicate quickly and effectively with our audiences," said John Ingle, 82nd TRW public affairs specialist. "Our website isn't reliable for quick communication. Sometimes, depending on the level of traffic from other bases trying to load articles and pictures, it could take anywhere from 20 minutes to several hours for the site to update. That just doesn't work for what we have to do."

When Sheppard opened its internet policies to allow social media sites to be viewed by government computers, the Public Affairs office saw this as a way to communicate with the base population faster and deliver news updates in real-time.

"We were limited until recently, but now we can provide immediate updates as things unfold," said Mr. Ingle. "It's really an advantage to our audiences to know what is going on from an official source instead of hearing rumors or speculating."

The impact of social media affecting the base populace became apparent March 7 when an armed man was swiftly apprehended by 82nd Security Forces Squadron personnel, with no shots fired and no injuries. False information was broadcasted onto social media sites that prompted mixed reactions from on-base personnel, the local community and media from as far away as Chicago. The false information was being broadcast by people who were not informed of current events, yet were providing misinformation.

"That told us that we need to be actively engaged in social media instead of sitting on the sidelines," said Mr. Ingle.

Since then, Team Sheppard has adopted social media to give swift, accurate information to all of its members.

"Twitter will be our primary communication tool with Sheppard's military, dependents, civilians and retiree populations," he said. "Within minutes of an incident, we will put information out on Twitter to notify those who follow us. The great thing about social media is that we can post something on Twitter and it will update on our Facebook Fan Page, which will also update information to the 145 Facebook friends that already signed up with us."

To follow Sheppard on Twitter:
  • Go to www.twitter.com and register for an account.
     
  • Click on 'Find People' and type 'SheppardAFB' in the search box.
     
  • Click on the 'SheppardAFB' hyperlink on the next page and choose to follow Sheppard.
     
  • Anytime Sheppard makes a status update, it will appear on the Twitter page of all Sheppard followers. There is also an option to sign up to have Tweets go to your phone by clicking on 'Settings' and then clicking on 'Mobile.'