USMC "mulls making some social media pages off-limits to Marines"

[The Bread Guy]

The commandant of the Marine Corps said the service is looking into making certain websites and social media pages off-limits to Marines in response to controversy over objectionable images troops are posting to the web.

In a May 29 letter to Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., Amos denounced Facebook pages and other social media postings that “denigrate women in the Marine Corps.”

“We share your indignation; I am responding on behalf of the Secretary of Defense,” he wrote. “These depictions are neither official Marine Corps communications nor reflective of the U.S. Marine Corps’ sentiments toward women.”

Amos wrote in response to a May 8 letter from Speier that cited popular “humor” (Facebook) pages populated by active Marines and veterans, such as “F’n Wook” and “Just The Tip, Of The Spear,” as demonstrating a culture of misogyny prevalent in the Marine Corps ....

Marine Times, 5 Jun 13

 

[vonGarvin]

When I first read this, I thought it was a duffelblog article. 

 

[MikeL]

Looks like those pages are already off Facebook.

 

[Wookilar]

When I first read this, I thought it was a duffelblog article.

Agreed.

And just so everyone knows; "F'n Wook" is NOT my name on other websites. ;D

 

[PAdm]

Good luck with this one.  Yet another baby being thrown out with the bathwater.

 

[a_majoor]

The Corps will need to evolve training and expectations of Marines in order to use and exploit social media to the best advantage for the Corps, reflexively trying to kill the use of Social Media isn't going to work anyway (Facebook, for example, never deletes anything and can reconfigure your page and repost anything , anytime without your knowledge or consent. Two simple examples are the unilateral change of default email addresses to X@Facebook.com and the initial rollout of "Timeline", which reposted everything, including stuff that people had thought was deleted).

The only other way that might work is to have a Corps specific social media page ("Semper Fi +"?) where both expectations and control can be managed.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Of course, 'Terminal Lance' has nailed the real reason for the recent policy revision:

http://terminallance.com/2013/04/05/terminal-lance-261-casual-encounter/

 

[UnwiseCritic]

I remember when my platoon was ordered too not go on wikileaks. First thing we did when we got home was go on wikileaks. Didn't find anything that important.