Does anyone have any insight on traffic on military social media?

2021-06-19T00:42:57-04:00

If you take one look at a flag officers Facebook page or an official branch page of any of the armed forces you will find in addition to random supporters, a whole host of interesting characters.

- Supporters from random countries around the globe professing love for America.
- People wanting to enlist from Africa, South America, and Asia.
- Scammers pretending to be horny generals.
- Scammers claiming to be some boot stuck in another country with no way home.
- People preaching death to America.
- People from countries in strife essentially begging us to invade them to topple their government and improve their way of life.

What you do not see a whole lot of however is actual Americans posting on these pages. I found this to be an interesting look at social media from a foreign perspective and how the world uses it positively or negatively to communicate with the U.S. military or its supporters.

What do you think about the traffic on these pages? Have you informed friends and family about the scammers? Etc.

Response by LTC David Brown made Jun 19 at 2021 8:44 AM

2021-06-19T08:44:13-04:00

Several people I knew on active duty had very low internet profiles and used an alias. Two reasons, they wanted to avoid possible posting something that could get them in trouble and in search for future employment they didn’t want a social media post to hurt them.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 19 at 2021 9:38 AM

2021-06-19T09:38:49-04:00

New Army leaders are starting to embrace the fact that more people get their news today from Social Media than they do from other internet sites. Social media platforms are now the go-to site now for putting out updates to family members and Soldiers.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 19 at 2021 4:53 PM

2021-06-19T16:53:53-04:00

Oh irony................

I'm going to dime out the Military Intel Schoolhouse.

When I was a SPC in AIT we had exodus the first month (started 2-DEC). So my Cadre "encouraged" us to check in when we got home through the unit's FB page. Now they did allow us to call and leave a message, but the preference was FB.

I did not have a FB account until I entered Military Intel School.

Oh irony.

Basically...... once I had that FB account I started linking friendships with classmates (who were generally teens and early 20's) and then all the sudden I was getting friend requests from hot chicks named Kevin (foreign actors not knowing western gender names) who were friends of my classmates.

So I basically had to start trimming my friend list of young idiots and those probing requests stopped.

I feel sorry for the young. According to the internet I basically didn't exist until after 2000. So my entire life before my 30's is unknown. Today's youth can't forget that part of their life.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Jun 19 at 2021 11:28 PM

2021-06-19T23:28:06-04:00

When I attended the Army Battalion and Brigade Pre-Command Course we got a block of instruction from the CSA and he brought a rep from each Assistant Chief offices including the TJAG and the Provost Martial. Among them was a young Captain who managed Facebook and Twitter for the Army. She was on there for hours each day blocking people spewing really offensive stuff, some foreign some domestic. She had a direct line to Facebook to maintain the Amry's presence. I imagine that has only grown since 2012. Overt communication in social media is how most gather information and form opinions (much to my chagrin). The Army is about people and people are on social media.

I have noticed the things you mention. I screen it out. It's no different than people who get on here from OCONUS looking for help to enlist and immigrate. I think many post stuff to see who responds to them and how. No other nation has as transparent a military as ours. It's an oddity to them. Especially those where the country is run by military juntas or the military is a political arm of the government.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 20 at 2021 2:25 PM

2021-06-20T14:25:17-04:00

The Army page has sooo many of those fake profiles on it, it's hilarious sometimes. To me it seems like a lot of these senior leaders - like flag officers - really aren't using their social media or even posting on them. The only person I've noticed who seems to use his social media is SMA and his presence on Twitter - actually engaging with people.

FB seems to attract more fake profiles than Twitter in my opinion. I'm not sure why. Although FB is weird on its moderation as when I report obviously fake profiles, I get told "doesn't violate our community standards." I have even had people message me with so obviously fake profiles using SMs pictures that aren't them. Sometimes I mess with them for a bit and then call them out as fake. It's just the names in the pictures don't even match the profile name or the URL user ID name. It's insane.

I think my family can spot scammers. I only have on grandparent left and she's not even on social media and I think she can spot scammers on the phone.

Response by SSgt Christophe Murphy made Jun 20 at 2021 4:14 PM

2021-06-20T16:14:05-04:00

Scammers using technology to further their scam is not new. It's been an ever evolving thing for decades. Social media doesn't change that. You also see more folks from other countries getting online because they are able to get information and also unplug from their daily lives.

Social media has changed into a source of news and not just a way to sends GIFs or videos.

Response by SMSgt Lawrence McCarter made Jun 21 at 2021 11:07 AM

2021-06-21T11:07:38-04:00

Yo udo see Facebook Pages of People that claim to be Generals etc. that their page makes it apparent they are not. I've seen some and on checking You find even is there was a position such as they claim You may well find there was a person assigned and it wasn't them and neither were those in the past that filled that position. There is no shortage of scammers and also be aware others may use and image that isn't even them. If You have an exiting friend as to be a friend it pretty certain it isn't them at all and when I find that I let the actual friend know so that can beheaded off. I've had that happen using My picture and Facebook, for example did act and remove the fraud person pretending to be Me. I'm sure many of You may have had some of the same experience with that sort of thing happening. I also do not accept friendship request from people I do not know or even have any personnel or professional connection with.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 21 at 2021 8:34 PM

2021-06-21T20:34:10-04:00

Robin Sage that!

https://medium.com/an-idea/a-hacker-catfished-cybersecurity-experts-using-awomans-profile-a70f0a535492

A Hacker Catfished Cybersecurity experts using aWoman’s Profile

Thomas Ryan, a white-hat hacker and cyber-security analyst, created a social media background for a profile with the name “Robin Sage,” an…