Social media plays a big role in lives of Airmen

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Andrea F. Liechti
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Let me guess. First, you check your text messages to make sure you didn't miss out on the previous night's events. Then, you check Facebook. It may be a brief glance to see what your friends are up to that morning or you may spend extra time addressing the comments of the day. Either way, social media has snuck into your life, and is changing the way people communicate and get information.

The effect social media has on Barksdale Airmen became evident to the Public Affairs team Dec. 12.

Maja Stevanovich, 2nd Bomb Wing public affairs chief of community relations, posted the following on the base Facebook page: "Team Barksdale, we have an amazing opportunity to be awarded $1,000,000 if we win the Commander in Chief's Annual Award for Installation Excellence. If you could choose where the money should go, what would you choose? Give us your best ideas! We'll be posting throughout the week to get your feedback. Ready...set...give us your ideas!"

Stevanovich said she posed this question to the base community using social media to get people immediately talking about quality of life improvement ideas for the base.

"Social media is ideal for polling a particular group as it provides quick feedback and encourages a discussion so it's really easy to see what ideas people are really passionate about and support," said Stevanovich.

The initial question received more than 40 comments in the first two hours. Community comments ranged from, "Kittens for every Airman!" to using the money for an indoor pool, fitness center renovations and building more amenities on the East Reservation.

In addition to the Installation Excellence Award discussions, the wing public affairs shop uses social media to inform and educate the public, and garner immediate feedback on a variety pf base topics.

"It's all about creating an environment to encourage dialogue and participation from fans on all of our social media platforms," Stevanovich said. "We are always trying to be more creative about making our social media sites more conducive to comments and fostering conversation amongst all of our fans."

To see images, videos and articles about Team Barksdale's missions and people, visit these 2 BW PA social media sites:
www.facebook.com/2ndBombWing
www.twitter.com/2ndBombWing
www.youtube.com/2ndBombWing
www.barksdale.af.mil