Every Soldier a Messenger

<p>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. Also social media capabilities have provided a means for individuals and small groups to more effectively synchronize actions even in the absence of an authoritative leader. Joint and Army doctrine related to Information Operations has sparingly addressed social media capabilities but has provided the appropriate philosophy for integrating these tools. During the events of the Arab Spring in 2011 and other uprisings anti-government protesters in Egypt Iran and Tunisia have demonstrated how social media can enhance the spread of the narrative and allow for protesters to synchronize their efforts. Also a pair of examples from the United States military's experience in Afghanistan has demonstrated opportunities for improvement. This monograph examines the evidence from recent conflicts and describes three big ideas related to social media capabilities that emerge from the evidence of 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 in order to seize the initiative with respect to the narrative of</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>