Become a fan of Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch or Gen. Raymond Odierno.  Find out instantly about your soldier's homecoming time change or the latest celebrity scheduled to visit Fort Hood.  Listen to podcasts about equipment testing.  Invite your family to YouTube to watch your unit's latest training exercise.  Read a blog about life on the Forward Operating Base.

It's the future and the Army and Fort Hood are getting on board.

The Army in January created the Online and Social Media Division solely focused on getting the Army's story to it soldiers, families and the public via Web and wireless technology.  The division focuses specifically on that mission as opposed to before "when the process was less formalized and more of an additional duty," said Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, division director.

"Social media" seems to be the Army's new buzz words, and across the country installations are looking to how they can utilize the technology and snag the millions of people already familiar with it.

The Army recognizes the importance of new media, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Phillips, the Army's deputy chief of public affairs, said Friday following an address to a local organization.  Officials are focusing on wireless and online sources because that's where people the people are, he added, "and we want to be there."

The Army has been on various social media platforms for more than a year, Arata said in an e-mail this week.  It started with Twitter, Flickr and YouTube, and the Army's Facebook page was launched in April, he added.

The Army currently uses Facebook, www.facebook.com/USarmy; ArmyLive blog: http://armylive.dodlive.mil; Twitter: www.twitter.com/USArmy; Flickr: www.flickr.com/soldiersmediacenter; YouTube: www.youtube.com/soldiersmediacenter; Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/usarmy; iReport: www.ireport.com/people/USArmy; NowPublic: www.nowpublic.com/usarmy; and Delicious: http://delicious.com/USArmyMedia.

"We know we need to be where the audience is at," Arata said. "These days, many people are getting their news in places other than traditional Web sites and news outlets.  Many are using social media platforms as a news gathering tool."

Using these sites also allows the Army to establish a dialogue with its audience, Arata said.

"They all, to some degree, allow participants to comments on our input, whether it's commenting on photos, videos or any other information we put out," he said.  "So it's great to let our audience 'participate' in the discussion.

"It puts a human face on the Army that most people are not accustomed to seeing in a large organization."

'Fan' a general

Fort Hood's commander only recently learned what sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace were all about.

"I'm coming up to speed quickly," Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch said in an e-mail last week.

The general now has a Facebook profile.  Other Army officials with profiles include Gen. David Petraeus and Gen. Raymond Odierno.

"It's very simple," Lynch wrote.  "That's where a significant part of our audience is and if we want to talk with them, that's where we have to be."

When Lynch took command of III Corps and Fort Hood this summer, he noticed a problem with communication.  Whether it was programs and services, like wellness, financial assistance or safety programs, or events like concerts, people just weren't getting the word, he said.

Social media is just another method of communication, Lynch went on to say.  It's a two-way vehicle and officials can get immediate feedback.

"It's all about communication, and if that's where our audience is, that's where we have to be," Lynch said of Facebook.  "I think it's fantastic."

Fort Hood also has Facebook pages for the post and it's newspaper, the "Fort Hood Sentinel."

"I view this as a way to communicate effectively with our younger soldiers and families in a format they are more comfortable with," said Maggie Brewster, III Corps and Fort Hood Command information manager.  "They can also provide us with their thoughts, via the same channels."

Post agencies hop on board

The Armed Services Blood Program and Robertson Blood Center can be found on Facebook and Twitter at http://twitter.com/MilitaryBlood.

The sites help the center reach its larger military family and offer more ways to stay in touch with current donors and volunteers, Perry Jefferies, the center's blood donor recruiter, said last week.

"We need their support wherever they may be, and reaching out to them via these channels will help us get our message across," he wrote in a release announcing the center's Facebook page and Twitter account.

Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation can also be found on MySpace, www.myspace.com/forthoodfmwr; Twitter, www.twitter.com/forthoodfmwr, and Facebook by searching "Fort Hood Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation."

The directorate, like Fort Hood's post exchanges, use Twitter to publicize events and special features.  The post exchanges can be found at www.twitter.com/hoodpxbuddy.  "We realized that many of those whom we were trying to reach may not be the type of person to see our advertisements throughout post because they do not frequent the places we have signage," said Kelsey M. West, Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation public relations coordinator.

Those people may be stay-at-home-moms or single soldiers living in the barracks, she added.

The directorate's Child, Youth and School Services also created accounts with the popular sites and the new Youth Hired! Apprentice Program's marketing is text-message based, said Koy Grant, a program spokeswoman.

Students can text "HIRED1" to 95613 and can receive regular updates about employment opportunities, college tours, volunteer info and more, Grant said.

More information about the program can be found at www.myspace.com/cysshired and www.twitter.com/cysshired.

Units are utilizing these sites, too.  Staff Sgt. Robert Strain created a Facebook page for the 13th Sustainment Command's 15th Sustainment Brigade last year.  It was an outlet to post the brigade's news stories and videos, but Strain, the brigade's public affairs chief, has had more success using Flickr and Twitter.

All photos released by his staff are posted on Flickr and stories and upcoming events are posted through Twitter at www.twitter.com/wagonmasters, Strain said.  The brigade also has a YouTube page, www.youtube.com/supporttheaction, for its videos.

Podcasting at OTC

A lot of the activity at West Fort Hood's U.S. Army Operational Test Command is classified and off limits to the media.

The command's Public Affairs Office created a series of podcasts to "allow community members the opportunity to learn about operational testing and the Operational Test Command," said Nathan Herring, an intern in the office.

The podcasts highlight the command, the Army's only independent operational tester who acts as the final gut check to prove things like equipment and vehicles work before they are fielded, without compromising security, Herring said.

Current topics include an introduction and brief history of the command, planning and execution of operational tests, the role of editors in operational testing and the command's involvement with the Shoemaker High School robotics program.

Listen to the podcasts at www.otc.army.mil/PODCASTS/Podcasts.htm.

The future

The Army will "absolutely" delve further into social networking, Arata said.

"We are looking forward seeing what the next social media platform will be," he said.  "That's why we have created this division — to be able to take the time to look forward and see what, of value, is coming up Next."

No word on what the next big thing is for the Army's Online and Social Media Division.

"None of these sites developed overnight," Arata said of the services the Army currently uses.

Phillips said that the Army isn't so concerned anymore with developing its own social media technologies like it tried to do with TroopTube, its version of YouTube.

"We're better when we plug into established media," he said.

These sites don't usually appear overnight, Arata said.

"We are watching, though, and are ready to pounce when the timing and the platform seem to make sense," he said.  "It's about being relevant too — we don't want to engage on a platform just because it's there.  It's got to make sense for us."