August 21, 2016
Social Media in the Military: Opportunities, Perils and a Safe Middle Path by Brigadier Mick Ryan, AM and Brigadier Marcus Thompson, AM, Grounded Curiosity
Social media has revolutionised global communication and professional discourse. It has demonstrated a capacity for penetration that is historically unprecedented, especially compared to other means of communication. For example Facebook took just 12 years to gain 1.65 billion users globally and Twitter has gained over 300 million users in a decade. Social media are distinct from other forms of media primarily because of two key reasons. First, they are more viral; users are more likely to share content in their social networks. Second, social media users are highly mobile. Social networking has a very high penetration of Australian society. In June 2016, there were 15 million Facebook, 5 million Instagram and 2.8 million Twitter users in Australia.
Members of the Australian Army are no different to other members of Australian society. They have largely embraced the various forms of social media available to them, and they use it to communicate at home, on courses, in the field and on operations. The story of social media is one of opportunity and threat for members of the military. It offers a level of transparency and global interaction that has not been possible before. But is also presents potential threats to our people, units and operations that can materialise without clever, informed use of the various social media available.
This paper reviews the rationale for the use of social media in the military. It does so by examining the benefits and the risks of social media use – by Army’s people, and the institution. The paper then provides an analysis of the most appropriate and effective use of social media, ensuring that individuals, units and commanders are able to exploit this most modern of communication forms in a way that is informed yet interesting, and protects essential friendly information…
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