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JBSA News
NEWS | Aug. 26, 2010

Lackland to use Facebook, Twitter during exercise

By Shannon Carabajal 502nd Air Base Wing OL-A Public Affairs

Air Force-approved social media tools will play a key role in the Joint Base San Antonio exercise Tuesday.

Airmen and employees on Lackland have access to several social media sites geared specifically for the base population and surrounding community, including a Lackland Facebook Fan page and Twitter account. The two accounts are linked so when the public affairs staff posts a message on Facebook, Twitter is automatically updated and messages can be sent directly to followers' cell phones.

First Lt. Natassia Cherne, Deputy Chief of Public Affairs for the 502nd Air Base Wing OL-A, said using social media tools during the exercise will help officials communicate more quickly and efficiently.

She said followers of Lackland's Facebook and Twitter pages will receive updates about the exercise. Those general exercise updates will include notification of traffic delays and gate closures.

"Many times, Airmen don't know when an exercise is taking place or what they should be doing. During an exercise, a public affairs specialist is working either on-scene or in the emergency operations center, ready to disseminate information about what has happened, what areas should be avoided, and what the base is doing to respond to the exercise or incident."

The lieutenant stressed that the integrity of the exercise will be maintained and only approved key information will be relayed through Twitter.

"Our goal is to make sure we are providing accurate information to all our followers and the general public. All the information we put out will be from press releases that are approved by the installation commander," she said.