Military and Social Media Synergy Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract
This paper explores the opportunities and challenges of integrating social media in military communication. The underlying social media trends, technology evolution, and trends in technology are explored to synthesis the cost-benefit analysis inherent in social media and military. The paper concludes with measures that ought to be incorporated to ensure the integration of social media with no security vulnerabilities.
Introduction
The 21st Century has experienced a revolution in global communication. Social media has emerged as a new information infrastructure that’s redefining people’s communication and interaction. Boyd & Ellison (2008) notes the birth of Social media can be traced to the introduction of the World Wide Web (WWW) that gained popularity in the ’70s and ’80s. The emergence of personal computers created a stage for social media. The first social media site, Six Degree, was introduced in 1977 and lasted till 2001. Social media hit the mainstream 2003 with increasing access to computers and internet penetration. Subsequently, major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with a global presence have been launched and over the years emerged integral in our daily lives (Statista, 2019). The “Fourth Screen technology and mobile computing that approached social media with mobile-based platforms redefined social networking by supporting platforms that enable instant sharing of images and videos.
Social Media is defined as a multi-layered system that entails electronic communication that enables users to create online profiles through which they share information, content, personal messages, among other content (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2012). According to Fuchs & Sandoval (2013), social media platforms fosters interaction, sharing, collaboration and participation. The social media landscape has extensively become a platform for communication with family, friends, business stakeholders, and even a critical source of information and entertainment. A distinguishing feature of social media is the viral nature and high mobility of users that enables convenient sharing of information by users (Ryan & Thompson, 2016).
The growth of social media usage has been exponential. While in 2005 the penetration of social media was 5% in the US, the number has exponentially grown to 70% in 2017. Statista, (2019) estimates that more than 2.77 billion social media users across the globe with a majority of internet users accounting as social network users. Since inception, social media has infiltrated our work environments, homes, and media. The market leading social media platform Facebook reports an average of 1.86 billion monthly active users. According to Kaplan & Haenlein (2012), the ever penetrating social media has redefined communication by breaking physical barriers and emerged as a critical medium of generating revenue.
Given the permeance of social media across social units, there has been a decline in formalized censorship of information. Increased integration of social media and paced –evolving and interconnected information environment pauses a challenge to an inflexible and rigid organization. Consequently, the military is taking a proactive path to seizing the social media wave. This paper explores the use of social media in the military, its benefits, and threats and concludes with recommendation effective use of social media in the military.
Productive Use of Social Media
The power of social media can be explained by the ability to create headlines with less than 140 characters by regular people. The platform has emerged as a network of spearheading social good and evil equally. The Arab spring social movement, fundraising to support victims of earthquakes in Nepal, and the US Presidential election are some of the social good attributable to social media. On the contrast, the spread of extremist propaganda and recruitment by terror groups such as ISIS demonstrates the social evil emanating from social media (Ryan & Thompson, 2016).
Social media is vastly expanding and there is a range of platforms on the horizon every day attracting a different type of audience. Garside, et al., (2012) identifies typical social media platforms entails real-time conversation and sharing of personal information on interest, events, religious, political or economic views which establishes a habit yielding critical data banks. Thomson (2016) notes that as social media evolves, the platforms have become competitive and a critical source of valuable data mirroring a market for monetizing social media data. Institutions such as corporations, academicians, policymakers, and journalist are able to access mass data that informs decisions (Fuchs & Sandoval, 2013). Companies are reaping from social media marketing and customer engagement which positively influences sales and revenues with brands like IKEA going viral on major social media platforms. In the last decade, social media platforms have become competitive, both for users and for clients to purchase the valuable data produced by the interactions of its users.
Social media supports collaborative projects that entail joint creation of content by multiple users (Kaplan & Haenlein,2012). The generation of content in online encyclopedia Wikipedia is an example of collaborative content creation. Blogging, the earliest form of social media enables a person to generate online content and interact with other people in form of comments. Blogs have been adopted by companies to engage their customers and enhance a company’s reputation (Kaplan & Haenlein,2012).
Use of Social Media in Military
For military missions, information is essential. To a large extent, new information system paradigm has been embraced by significant militaries. According to Gray (2005), war has increasingly been pursued through informative lens. As technology evolves and online communication emerging prevalent globally, there has been rising advocacy for change of military culture to incorporate social media communication platform. The US Department of Defense (DOD) is among the first agencies to integrate social media communication its military division since the publication of the DOD policy on social media in 2010 (Garside et al., 2012).
There are evident benefits of integrating social media in the daily activities of the military. Social media has been recognized as a convenient information sharing mechanism with military personnel and families. The platform offers support systems to personnel who may be going through hardships. A suicide not by military personnel posted on social media, for example, enables soldiers to access physiological health promptly averting a death. The platform enables military personnel to maintain contact with family and friends. Moreover, upon retirement from the military, social media serves as an avenue for exploring job opportunities (Ryan & Thompson, 2016)
Social media provides inward and outward facing advantage to the military units. It provides a platform for interaction among the global military community. Social media has a global audience that would be eager to engage in professional discussion on military topical issues, hence democratizing the professional military. Ryan & Thompson (2016) notes that social media platforms enables reach of a wider audience within a short duration and at minimal cost. Additionally, social media platform enables obtaining of direct and unaltered feedback promptly..
Often the military finds itself with crossroad with the media for media information that may be inaccurate or incomplete. Social media has been recognized as a platform that breaks or builds an image. Military uses social to reach to wider audience enhancing public interaction. Social media provides an avenue to tell the military work narrative with impartiality. Social media was extensively used by military in engaging the public while responding to disasters such as the devastating Haiti earthquake or even the Ebola calamity in West Africa. Lastly, social media has emerged as a new digital tool for education and training. Military training has evolved to incorporate online training to its personnel as well as the general public to enhance safety (Ryan & Thompson, 2016)
Concerns of Using Social Media in Military
Although social media presents an extensive opportunity for open communication and a vehicle for distributing information in the military, it presents risks, concerns, and challenges. The members of the military have to be cognizant of the impact of the content posted on social media platforms. Prior to the introduction of social media, military communication was confined in traditional media such as print which guaranteed information to limited members of the force. There was limited voicing of views in public domains (Boyd & Ellison, 2008). But the proliferation of the internet and social media has altered the military communication paradigm. Information no longer lies in the domain of handful of actors. The fragmented social media landscape enables anonymous creation of content, which limits content vetting (Ryan & Thompson, 2016)
Adoption of social media poses a risk of critical military operations information leaking to the internet which compromises missions. Social media continuously shapes the way we engage in our everyday lives and entails interactive services such as picture and video sharing, networking and blogging. A social media photo upload by a soldier resulted in an insurgent attack that destroyed four US Army attack helicopters. A scheduled Israeli attack on suspected militants was canceled due to a Facebook post by a soldier. In 2010 cases released by Freedom of Information Act under the UK Ministry of Defense highlighted 16 cases of leakage of confidential information relating to equipment’s, submarines, and operations through social media networks. Subsequently India restricted the use of social media by navy personnel following information leakage on social media in 2012. Such vulnerabilities demonstrate the operational vulnerabilities, risk and hazardous cost social media usage by members of military poses to missions (Garside et al., 2012).
Social media has extensively altered societal behaviors and norms that resulted in increasing self- disclosure of pertinent information. Often social media users post their personal information such as residence, family, employment and interest. Such self- disclosures have in some circumstances resulted in far-reaching negative consequences. Augmented by advancement in technology, social media exerts potential to destroy the military. Scholarly work by Boyd & Ellison (2008) highlights privacy concern is a critical issue with the increasing popularity of Social media. Online Metadata is emerging as a gold mine while data mining has become an avenue of intelligence gathering. Access of social media information by terrorist organization such as ISIS poses a risk to the military individuals and families. In addition, social media last, hence forms of misconduct by the military personnel reflects poorly on the integrity of the department of defense (Ryan & Thompson, 2016)
Amplified by increasing global internet connectivity, social media is emerging as an instrument of war. The interweb has increasingly become a haven for crowdsourcing criminal services. The Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013 is one such crime orchestrated through the interweb. Terror group has adopted social media to propagate extremist ideologies, recruit members and share tactical information.
Conclusion
Social media has become integral to our lives permeating in diverse political, social and economic lives across the globe. The benefits and opportunities created by social media preclude the threats. The defense department ought to understand the opportunities and threats that social media poses in order to effect buffer strategies. The scale and scope of the benefits and risks of social media in the military unit call for building a secure military social networking interface that protects intelligence in the 21st Century information age. The integration of social media calls for increased sensitization of military members and their families to ensure increased social media responsibility. While banning the use of social media in the military may no longer be an option, states should issue guidelines and offer training on social media safety. Garside et al., (2012) notes that Countries such as South Korea and the US have set a social media pace by adopting guidelines that cultivate a culture safe social media usage.


References
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