Kadena Facebook site gives real-time storm updates

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Mike Tateishi
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Typhoon Kompasu may not have punched much of a storm surge here, but there was a tidal wave of activity on the Kadena Air Base Facebook page.

Kadena's official Facebook page swelled from around 400 "friends" before the storm to nearly 1,500 "friends" Tuesday morning demonstrating just how powerful the social networking site was to service members and their families needing information on everything from storm conditions to facility and school closures to flight cancellations at Naha.

"In the end we received and answered literally hundreds of questions leading up to the storm," said 1st Lt. Bryan Bouchard, the 18th Wing deputy chief of public affairs.

The Kadena Facebook moderator took what would appear to be a casual approach to creating and answering posts.

"Official Air Force communications tend to be rigid, without feeling or emotion, which can drive the casual user away. Facebook is what everyone uses, people of all ages: me, my mom, my grandma, friends, etc. If you try to sound official on a forum like that, you'll lose people and our job isn't just to blindly disseminate information, our job is to know how to get people to listen," said Lieutenant Bouchard.

In addition to public affairs answering questions, the community at large weighed in.

"Hey guys, the commissary isn't busy right now. If you forgot anything better come get it!! We've got a couple registers open," posted Marcus Jimenez via his Iphone at 11:18 a.m., Tuesday.

"Yes, but is there anything left on the shelves?" replied Kristy Wells from her computer.

Seconds later Jimenez replied, "Yeah, were still stocked."

Lieutenant Bouchard said public affairs don't always have all the answers, "We just have the means to get the answers out to people. So the participation from other users, other residents was key in getting out timely, accurate information and controlling damaging rumors that may lead people astray."

One of the recommendations a user mentioned on the site was to have some of the more visible organizations posting and replying on the site.

"In some cases, residents were trying to go to some of these agencies only to find locked doors," said Lieutenant Bouchard.

Facebook was the choice platform because of the immediacy. Kadena's official website, www.kadena.af.mil takes time reflect updates.

"The amount of steps it takes to post a comment and then again for us to respond to that comment is cumbersome, it's about a five-step process through three different websites," said Lieutenant Bouchard. Facebook is a one-step process.

It's this reason that public affairs will continue to use Facebook to update the community.

"We can literally get the information out to thousands of people before we ever hang up the phone with Command Post. Those are real-time updates to literally hundreds of people at a very critical time.

Although the Kadena Facebook site was a useful site during this storm, it becomes useless without power and the internet.

"There's still no substitute for a flashlight and a radio," said Lieutenant Bouchard.

The 18th Wing public affairs office will continue to inform the base via its official website, www.kadena.af.mil as well as its social media sites, www.facebook.com/KadenaAirBase and www.twitter.com/KadenaAirBase.