HILL AIR FORCE BASE -- The 419th Fighter Wing is taking a new approach to Air Force recruitment.
The reserve component of Hill Air Force Base has recently started a new social media campaign, creating new pages on the video- sharing website YouTube and on the popular social- networking website Facebook.
As part of the campaign, the 419th will release a series of videos intended to promote both the wing and the Air Force's message.
The videos feature 19-year-old Layton resident Zoe Waits, who talks to reservists from the 419th on subjects ranging from F-16s and Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams to mothers in the Air Force and explanations of Air Force acronyms.
Waits said she has no previous experience or family in the Air Force, and was contacted by chance, after representatives from the 419th saw some of her online video blogs on cooking.
"I am about as far away from the Air Force as you can get, so I have already learned a lot, but I think that was the whole idea behind me doing these videos," she said.
"It's stripped down to its most basic form, so it's new and fresh."
Kari Tilton, chief of public affairs with the 419th, said the wing is one of the first in the Air Force to tackle social media as a form of recruitment and promotion.
"We are one of the few wings in the Air Force that are doing this," she said. "We're kind of out front on it, so we're still pretty new at it, but we're getting better."
The 419th's commander, Col. Water "Buck" Sams, said the new Facebook page and YouTube channel give the wing a brand-new medium with which to promote the wing and the Air Force.
"Social-media sites like YouTube and Facebook give us a chance to reach out to a vast online audience," he said.
"It's important for us to share our story with the community where our reservists live and work, and social media is another way we can do that."
Tilton said the new medium also allows the group to reach a new demographic.
The 419th hopes to reach an entirely new and untapped group through its social-networking campaign, she said.
"The DoD (Department of Defense) has advocated the use of social-networking sites, so we just thought it was kind of a good way to share our story," she said.
"We wanted to appeal to a younger group of people who are using these kinds of sites every day. We want to deliver the Air Force message, but we are trying to do it in a different way."
With 10 videos and nearly 1,200 views, Tilton said, the 419th will continue to produce new videos and hopes to reach 1,000 fans on Facebook, where the group will also post news updates.
"We want to see the community get involved," she said. "This is a good way to create an open dialogue."
The most-viewed video on the wing's YouTube channel features community members from around the Top of Utah thanking airmen for the service they provide.
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