U.S. Army Social Media Handbook - 25th Infantry Division - U.S. Army

Social Media for Soldiers, Army Families
and Army Personnel
The United States Army social media handbook
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Joining social networks
Soldiers will naturally seek out involvement in
social media platforms if they haven’t already.
Social media helps individuals with similar interests
connect and interact. Soldiers are authorized
to use and belong to a variety of social
media platforms as long as their involvement
does not violate unit policy and the basic guidelines
of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Lay out the guidelines
All leaders should communicate social media
expectations with their Soldiers. It is important
to outline unit policy and make sure all Soldiers
know what they can and cannot do when using
various social media platforms. A generic unit
policy can be found on the Army’s SlideShare
site and it can be customized to each unit.
Follow the Uniform Code of Military Justice
Soldiers using social media must abide by the
Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) at all
times. Commenting, posting or linking to material
that violates the UCMJ or basic rules of
Soldier conduct is prohibited. Social media
provides the opportunity for Soldiers to speak
freely about their activities and interests. However,
Soldiers are subject to UCMJ even when
off duty, so talking negatively about supervisors
or releasing sensitive information is punishable
under the UCMJ. It is important that all Soldiers
know that once they log on to a social media
platform, they still represent the Army.
Security items to consider
• Do not reveal sensitive information about
yourself such as schedules and event locations.
• Ask, “What could the wrong person do with
this information? Could it compromise the
safety of myself, my family or my unit?”
• Geotagging is a feature that reveals your location
to other people within your network.
Consider turning off the GPS function of
your smartphone and digital camera.
• Photos and videos can go viral quickly. Closely
review them before posting to ensure they
don’t give away sensitive information which
could be dangerous if released.
• Talk to your family about operations security.
Be sure they know what can and cannot
be posted.
• Look closely at all privacy settings. Set security
options to allow visibility to “friends
only.”
M.I.A. and K.I.A.
Social media is a major part of our daily interactions,
so when Soldiers are killed in action or go
missing, it’s hard to turn off the flow of information
distributed through social media platforms.
While it’s difficult to prepare for tragedy,
it’s important to know that social media
can play a role (good or bad) in the handling of
M.I.A. and K.I.A. situations.
In an M.I.A. or K.I.A. situation, members of the
media may look at your personal Facebook profile
or the profiles of your family to find out
more about you. In an captivity situation, captors
may also turn to Facebook to pull information
from family member profiles for interrogation
purposes. It’s vitally important that you
and your family set privacy settings as restrictive
as possible.
Details about Soldiers killed in action cannot
be released until 24 hours after the
next of kin has been notified and after
the information has been released by the
DoD at www.defense.gov/releases. In our
social media culture, this has become more
difficult to enforce. It’s important that all
friends, family and fellow Soldiers know that
information about individuals killed in
action must not be released before the next
of kin is notified. Always follow unit and Army
protocol when it comes to M.I.A. and K.I.A. situations.
When a Soldier is injured, be sure to
avoid posting any medical information about
Soldiers when providing updates on their condition.