Social Media: While NASA JSC Clamps Down, US Army Opens Up

Army gives soldiers access to Twitter, Facebook, GCN
“An Army order directs network managers across the country to stop blocking soldiers’ access to certain Web 2.0 Web sites such as Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, according to several media reports today. The order issued May 18 jointly by the 93rd and 106th Signal Brigades, permits access to five social media sites within the continental U.S, said Stephen Bullock, strategic communication director for 7th Signal Command, which oversees the brigades. Bullock said the order “wasn’t really a reversal of policy,” as much as an effort to address inconsistent and often arbitrary decisions that had been made from base to base. “So we gave guidance that made it a consistent set of web filtering standards, resulting in better service for our users,” he said. Access should be available to Facebook: Delicious, Flickr, Twitter and Vimeo via the Unclassified but Sensitive Internet Protocol Router Network, he said.”