Federal Computer Week says that the Army has been experimenting with its own version of Facebook with enhanced features designed to allow soldiers the ability to communicate with family and friends without compromising security. Dubbed milBook by Army officials, it has been in the testing stages since October 2009 and might soon be ready for widespread deployment with troops.
Currently, the beta version of milBook has 18,000 members. The project was announced earlier this month in a press release distributed by the Army that also touted plans to integrate security solutions developed for milBook across Army communications platforms.
“We prefer to categorize our sites as professional networking rather than social,” said Justin Filler, deputy director of the MilTech Solutions office. “The topics, information and relationships are based largely on professional similarities and common grounds.”