U.S. Army Routinely Monitors Social Media and Prepares Sentiment Briefs for Public Affairs Personnel
January 11th, 2012Via: Politico:
News coverage of Pfc. Bradley Manning’s legal hearing last month on charges of being a key source for WikiLeaks was generally ‘negative’ but ‘balanced and factual,’ according to daily summaries of the proceedings prepared by Army public affairs personnel.
The Army flacks also took a keen interest in news coverage of former Lt. Dan Choi’s ejection from Fort Meade, the Maryland Army base where the weeklong hearing took place. “Since former Lt. Dan Choi’s disturbance outside of the courtroom there have been 118 print and online stories; and 67 social network conversations in reference to the incident,” one day’s report says. There’s also a link to video of an interview Current TV’s Keith Olbermann did with Choi about the episode that led to him being wrestled to the ground and kicked off the base.
The Army used a commercial service called VOCUS to track traditional and social media coverage of Manning’s hearing. The Pentagon pays close attention to the volume of tweets about the U.S. military during high-profile incidents, like the Air Force One flyover that distressed New York City residents in 2009. A spokeswoman told government technology site NextGov later that year that the Army monitors social media sites only on an episodic basis.
