Every Soldier a Messenger: Using Social Media in the Contemporary Operating Environment
Abstract
Social media has become an additional element within the operational environment within which nearly anyone with an Internet connection can participate. The speed at which participants can add content, truthful or not, to that battle space has forced the Army to change the way it has traditionally approached social media. Information age military theorists have postulated that high-speed computing and ubiquitous network connectivity, key components of social media capabilities, would initiate a revolution in military affairs. While social media capabilities do not provide information superiority, they have empowered individuals to more effectively share content and consequently influence the narrative of a conflict. During the events of the Arab Spring that began in 2010 and other uprisings, anti-government protesters in Egypt, Iran, and Tunisia demonstrated how social media can enhance the spread of the narrative and allow for protesters to synchronize their efforts. This monograph examines the evidence from recent conflicts and describes three ideas related to social media capabilities that emerge from that evidence. What can the U.S. Army learn from the use of these tools by belligerents in recent conflicts? First, the military needs better tools to understand, visualize, and describe how social media capabilities impact the information environment. Second, the military must improve its tactics, techniques, and procedures in integrating social media capabilities into multiple lines of effort to seize the initiative with respect to the narrative of a conflict. Third, the military must find ways to decentralize the official use of social media in the operational environment by empowering individual soldiers and allowing small units to synchronize their actions. Decentralizing its approach to social media by making every soldier a messenger would allow the Army to seize the initiative in this increasingly important part of the operational environment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 17, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA566699
Entities
People
- Dennis G. Wille
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College