Research Summaries

Back Junior Sailor's and Officer's Use of New Media in the U.S. Navy: Opportunities and Challenges

Fiscal Year 2015
Division Research & Sponsored Programs
Department Naval Research Program
Investigator(s) Thomas, Gail F.
Sponsor NPS Naval Research Program (Navy)
Summary The Pew Research Center shows a dramatic increase in the use of social media across all age categories, but particularly among 18-29 year olds. While the US Navy has been experimenting with various social media tools, crowdsourcing, and mobile aps, we have much to learn about the nuances of these new media that might help us better communicate with today's junior sailors and officers. While we can team from the corporate world about the importance of using social media and mobile apps in the workplace, we need to investigate the idiosyncratic ways that the personnel in the US Navy use and would like to use social media. The purpose of this study is to learn more about the way that junior Navy personnel inhabit social spaces or how and why mobile apps might best be employed to reach particular organizational objectives. A study to investigate these issues would allow us to better understand the nuances of sailors' social media use. For instance, how, when, and, why do sailors use various social media tools and apps? What apps and social media might be most effective in the work environment? What apps and social media are strictly social? How might we rethink traditional media practices for improved engagement among young sailors?
Keywords Social media Mobile apps Communication Strategic communication Dynamic
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal