The U.S. AirForce's Facebook page.
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)Last November, citing bandwidth and security reasons, the military launched TroopTube, a video-sharing social Web site designed for service members, as the alternative to YouTube. Apparently, it now has had a change of heart.
According to the Associated Press, the U.S. military in Afghanistan is launching a Facebook page, a YouTube site, and Twitter feeds as part of a new communication effort. Officials said this would help the military reach those who get their information online rather than via printed materials.
For now, the military's Facebook and Twitter sites in Afghanistan are still in a testing phase. Officials hope to attract thousands more users after a formal launch later this week.
The effort is primarily to counter Taliban propaganda, which some are saying routinely publicizes false claims about how many U.S. soldiers its forces have killed, or how many civilians might have died in an airstrike. This is the information war which, according to U.S. officials, the military has been losing.
The military will also use this new method of communication for other military-related news. For example, it announced on Monday news on Twitter about the death of U.S. service members the previous day from non-combat-related injuries in southern Afghanistan, hours before its formal press statement.
Service members are also encouraged to post photos and stories on Web sites to show daily life in Afghanistan, including content that does not make the news.
It's expected that this will be well-received by troops as many military commands and individual service members have long used social-networking sites to stay in touch with their families and friends. The Air Force and Army also already have Facebook pages.
Nonetheless, this communication effort in Afghanistan, which takes advantage of social-networking sites as a primary tools to release news, is the first that's been implemented in an active war zone.
After banning YouTube and other social Web sites on all overseas computers in May, citing bandwidth and security issues, the U.S. military on Tuesday launched an alternative video-sharing Web site for troops, their families, and supporters.
The new site is called TroopTube and has a look and function very much like YouTube, with one major difference: a Pentagon employee screens each video upload for taste, copyright violations, and national security issues.
Technically, you need to be a member of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, or National Guard to register with the site for uploading. However, there's no enforcing mechanism to make sure that's the case. There are also options to register as a family member or civilian friend.
TroopTube limits videos to 5 minutes in length and 20MB in size, as opposed to 10 minutes and 1024MB of YouTube. Unlike YouTube, you can't rate a video but just leave comments.
According to the Associated Press, TroopTube was built with the help of Delve Networks, a four-month-old start-up that builds advanced tools for approving, sorting, and managing videos.
Delve's technology automatically generates the video content into different file sizes to feed the viewer best depending on his or her Internet connection. This makes the site more bandwidth-friendly than YouTube and other movie sites. The company also creates a text transcript from the uploaded videos' sound tracks for better and more relevant search results.
Ustream cofounders Brad Hunstable and John Ham as West Point cadets in 1998
(Credit: The U.S. Army)To many Americans with family members serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, the most wished-for holiday gift is simply a visit with their far-off loved ones.
Ustream.TV, a start-up that lets people stream live video to the Web, is planning to help military families connect through the Internet this holiday season.
The company has given Webcams to people who have family stationed in Iraq, so they can access the Ustream service and take part in a video chat.
Ustream, headquartered in Los Altos, Calif., has a strong military background. Co-founders John Ham and Brad Hunstable met each other while attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The former cadets reached the rank of captain before leaving the Army.
Frank Caufield, co-founder of heavyweight venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is an investor in the year-old company and is also a West Point grad.
Wesley Clark, a former four-star Army general, is a member of Ustream's advisory board.
Ham and Hunstable last February
(Credit: Ustream)"Having served five years and being separated from my family for a year, I know what it's like to be away from home during the holidays," Ham told CNET News.com on Thursday. "Military families sacrifice so much so their loved ones can serve their country. We're doing what we can to make a difference."
Initially, Ustream intended to send Webcams to soldiers in Iraq as well as their families. But Army officials nixed the idea for security reasons, according to an Ustream spokeswoman.
Soldiers already equipped with a Webcam will be able to broadcast themselves to their families at the same time their families will be visible to them. Service members without cameras can still watch on their computer monitors and communicate with loved ones through instant message or telephone.
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