Marines Find Friends and Recruits on the Internet

July 25, 2006 — -- Ask any users of popular social networking sites and they will tell you more friends equals more status. In a new effort to encourage enlistments, the Marine Corps Recruiting Command recently joined the "friends" race by creating its own user profile on the world's largest networking site, MySpace.com. And after five months online, the Marines already appear to be winning hearts and minds.

The Marines' decision to create its own Internet profile comes as part of a wider effort to use the Internet as a tool for finding new recruits. "We're always looking for new and innovative ways to reach the target audience," said Maj. Wes Hayes, spokesman for the Marines Corps Recruiting Command.

This effort entails spending $1 million a year on banners and profiles linked on popular sites like sportingnews.com and gamespot.com.

In February recruiters decided to extend their efforts by turning to the increasingly popular Internet networking sites.

MySpace now generates more traffic than any other site on the Web, with a demographic largely made up of teenagers and people in their 20s.

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With the Marines seeking to attract exactly these age groups, the online profile offers enough information to spark interest, including a tab that encourages visitors to "Contact a Recruiter."

So far, the Marines have gathered more than 12,000 "friends," generated 437 responses and 173 leads. A lead results when an applicant fits the target age and meets the medical and educational standards. These numbers are likely to grow given the Marine Corps expanding "friends" list.

While the Marines' Web profile is relatively new in the world of online networking, America's defense forces already enjoy unofficial support from current soldiers and members of the Internet community.

Before the creation of the official Marine Corps profile, MySpace already contained more than 1,500 groups dedicated to supporting the Marines, while online contender Facebook.com also included many similar entries.