Study: Pentagon Facebook pages easily confused with 'clones'

It is often difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish the Pentagon's official Facebook pages from the countless "clones" erected by military familes, fans and supporters, a new study finds.

Moreover, an "extremely small number" of the Defense Department's Facebook outlets have any markings whatsoever indicating they are official Web sites, creating confusion among Facebook users, the report continues.

Both findings are part of a new study released Wednesday by Janson Communications, a public relations firm that specializes in defense.

Analysts there prepared their report in January, weeks before the Pentagon announced it would allow troops serving both at home and abroad access to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

But the report's authors nonetheless stress their data demonstrates the key challenges military leaders will still face in implementing their Web policy this year.

The Pentagon announced its seminal policy shift on Friday, following a seven-month review of its social network rules. Ultimately, the new guidelines permit even troops stationed in war zones to communicate with family and friends using the Web, though commanders do have the ability to shut off access temporarily to preserve network resources or safeguard U.S. interests.

Defense officials promise to release more concrete details about that policy after completing another 180-day review. But one of the early challenges they must surely address in their guidelines is the slew of Facebook fan pages that resemble official Pentagon sites, yet have no real affiliation with the military.

Janson found that a surprising number of Facebook users commented on the "clone" profile pages, not the military's official Facebook sites. Consequently, they recommended the Defense Department better label its official content on the popular social network.

Nevertheless, it is hardly the only obstacle Pentagon officials will confront in implementing their new policy. A Pentagon spokesman told reporters Tuesday that bandwidth constraints on the military's broadband network -- especially in war-torn states like Afghanistan -- may sometimes require commanders to cut off troops' access to resource-hogging sites.

But he nonetheless stressed the Defense Department would eventually iron out those kinks.

"I think, though, people will find quickly, as I did, as I started using it, the benefits of using this as a communication tool," Floyd later added, noting a change in military culture was under way.

---