What to Watch For...

If you are not following the short video clips Commandant Thad Allen is uploading to the iCommandant blog, you are missing something interesting. Knowing the DoD, these videos are probably blocked to the folks reading this from your work location, so you may have to see it for yourself at home. This is a very clever idea. I got some detail from the Coast Guard regarding the technology at work here.

It is really low-tech effort with some good potential ROI. The videos are shot with a standard digital still camera with some basic video capability and then uploaded onto Flickr, which can then be blogged out through iCommandant which links to his Facebook.

This is a very clever way to leverage low tech stuff for strategic communications, and there are few limits to how useful this could be. The videos are short and sweet, leveraging simple technology for video-blogging that could realistically be done by any public affairs person on any ship in the fleet under virtually any circumstances, and the small size of the short & simple videos supports lower bandwidth requirements.

It reminds me of something VADM Harvey said the other day.

Just an example that woman from Scotland who sang [Susan Boyle]… I think the number of views of that 4-5 minute video is up to a fairly staggering number. Now clearly there is a fairly large human interest piece in that story, but I think of how, if we had on Facebook, the ability to respond rapidly to the events of Easter Sunday went down in terms of getting our hostage Captain Phelps back. I think that would have been seen by lots of people as an opportunity to talk about the Navy and why we have a role to play and what the role is and establish that broad level of awareness that I think is lacking in the nation for a large number of reasons.

VADM Harvey clearly understands that strategic communications is about capturing moments. It looks like the Coast Guard has found a clever way to do something exactly like that with a popular medium: video, and promote it not only through a blog, but also through a Facebook page. When I talk about leveraging social media for strategic communications, I try to emphasize consistency and congruency, because when implemented with consistency a social network can build expectations with the target audience and connect.

With something like this video-blogging concept, the Coast Guard connects directly to the target audience by bypassing the filters (opinion shaping) of the press. With a short video, one doesn't have to worry about which quote becomes the story, because the entire short video is available to all to be quoted by anyone.

This technology in the hands of some smart Coast Guard PA folks could be fascinating to observe when hurricane season comes. Add the two way content flow and ease of use (cell phone) potential of Twitter to the information flow possibilities available to the Coast Guard this upcoming hurricane season, and I'd suggest it is going to be very interesting to see how the new information tools the Coast Guard is leveraging influences the information flow in future hurricane emergencies. With a bit of planning ahead, the Coast Guard could potentially capture the moment that VADM Harvey is talking about.

Now you might be wondering how the Navy could use this type of technology. Easy. Interview folks on the USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) with a quick video 30 second clip every day and upload the videos to the Continuing Promise 2009 blog (and Facebook page).

But if they were really thinking, they would also do a video every day in Spanish and upload it to a Spanish language Continuing Promise 2009 blog targeting the media, naval enthusiasts, health experts and organizations, and every local charity, organization, or group that can be found online in the regions the ship is visiting. And when you get to those places, you interview the locals in the videos. With a bit of tactical success hitting the target audience of these regions, local politicians will request to be on the videos.