After condemning them as potential tools for terrorism just six months ago, the US Army is now using Twitter and Facebook to pursue new recruits.

Tomorrow's soldiers "live in the virtual world," observed Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley (via Newsday), citing Facebook as key to speaking to 18- to 24-year-olds. "You could friend your recruiter, and then he could talk to your friends."

But the Army isn't just using social media means to recruit. US commander General Raymond Odierdo, who's presently stationed in Iraq, uses his Facebook page to answer questions about the Army's mission in the country and describe what troops have accomplished.

The Air Force also launched a Facebook page, a Twitter and a blog; the Navy experiments lightly with Twitter; the Coast Guard commandment regularly updates his Facebook status; and the Marines are also recruiting on a handful of networking sites, according to Newsday.

Indeed, the Air Force has a flow chart designed expressly to teach its bloggers how to deal with different kinds of user communications that appear on their pages:

Earlier this year, the Army launched an online and social media subset of its public affairs office. Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, who manages the division, reportedly trawls daily for fresh avenues to reach both potential soldiers and their families.

Arata called social media participation by the military a "culture shift."

"I'm sure there was the same pushback years ago when somebody invented the telephone. 'Ooh, you can't talk there because somebody might hear you.' Well, that's the whole point. We want people to hear us," he stated.