Hi, I’m Ash, Secretary of Defense tells Facebook

In a related note about DoD adopting technology the rest of us have been using for a while, Ashton Carter has created an official Facebook account, becoming the first Defense secretary ever to do so, the Pentagon said Friday.

Carter’s new foray into social media follows his visit to the company’s headquarters a month ago (and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg was the first to like his inaugural post: a photo of Carter and a Marine aboard an MV-22 Osprey during his current Asia trip).

But the Pentagon said the secretary’s rationale for joining was to better communicate with DoD’s 3 million uniformed and civilian personnel. Officials cited surveys showing that military families are more likely to use social media than the general population, partially as a way to communicate with deployed family members. 89 percent of military families use Facebook at least once a day, according to the Pentagon.

“Secretary Carter looks forward to using Facebook to highlight the outstanding work our people do around the world every single day as well as exchange ideas and hear directly from our people on the pressing challenges facing our department and our nation,” the department said in a statement. “While no secretary of defense is able to meet with every service member personally, Facebook will help Secretary Carter reach service members and their families in a way that hasn’t been possible before.”

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