Marines Ban Social Media, But Can They!

A little over a week ago the U.S. Marine Corp banned all social media, or as they call it “social networking sites” from the Marine Corp enterprise network. Marine Order Banning Social Networks Let me clarify what the Marine order constituting the ban gives as a “social network site” example: Twitter, MySpace and FaceBookNow. These are truly the powerhouse’s of social media and obviously the most commonly used amongst the general Marine population. This story to someone not involved in social media may be viewed as just another news story, but really this is much more. The ban by the U.S. Marine Corp of all “social networks” for one year is monumental challenge against our culture. I am not trying to get all “Kumbya” here, but let the Marine ban sink into your “Cerebellum” for a moment. If the Marine ban goes well, perhaps this action could be picked up by mainstream U.S. businesses and perhaps not. If U.S. businesses pickup the ban it will be interesting to watch how our culture changes. You would see a huge work around by individuals to continue their social media fix. On the other hand, perhaps this does not go well for the Marine administration and they suffer a morale setback, not sure if that is possible (Marines are damn tough). I sympathize with the Marines’ who will now be unable to communicate with family and friends through their work computers. How about those Marines that cannot afford a personal computer and are away from loved ones. How are they supposed to stay up to date with those loved ones? Is this going to be good for Marine morale, not likely. Working in the National Security Industry I am sensitive to the possibility of someone trying to obtain information from Marines’ through “social network sites.” But, is it possible that “classified” information is less likely to be lost this way than through traditional personal issues such as financial problems, drug problems, alcohol problems, etc. Personally, I don’t think even the U.S. Marine Corp can stop their Marines from being involved “in the conversation”. The social media revolution is here! The Marine administration can take the Marine enterprise network out of the social media, but the conversation will take place without the Marine’s being involved. Michael Vallez

Tagged as: FaceBook, MichaelVallez, MySpace, Social Media, Social Media & National Security, Twitter, U.S. Marine Corp