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British army creates team of Facebook warriors

ojbyrne 12y ago
I immediately thought of the book "New Model Army": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0575083638/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0575083638/ "A giant has brought war to the fields and towns of England's heartland. When the British army brings in air support and deploys heavy weapons he simply melts away, only to form again somewhere else and deliver another devastating blow. He is called Pantegrel, and he is a New Model Army—a giant whose thoughts flow through countless wireless connections, whose intelligence comes from the internet and real-time camera updates, whose mind is made up of thousands of minds, each deciding what he will choose to do. He has chosen the joy of the fight, and his fury is truly democratic—he is me and you. This is a terrifying vision of a near future war as new technologies allow the world's first truly democratic army to wrest control from the powers that be..."
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dmckeon 12y ago
So now social media is a platform for the continuation of war by other means?[0] This feels like a slippery slope potentially leading to a morass of misinformation and confusion, not only among the putative enemy but for all readers. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz
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hackuser 12y ago
Social media operations are not unique to the UK. For example, http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/01/what-your-facebook-posts-mean-us-special-forces/104031/ http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/01/what-your-faceb...
harkyns_castle 12y ago
Might be naive, but it feels to me like this type of propoganda from the various militaries and TLA's should be illegal. I wonder if that's where Google were going with their real name policy... if you can link stuff back to a real person, they're less likely to be a shill. Maybe being generous there.
swatow 12y ago
The Israeli military has been doing this for a while: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/israel-and-palestine/130605/idf-israel-isreali-defense-forces-social-media-twitter-facebook http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/... http://www.fastcompany.com/3003305/inside-israeli-militarys-social-media-squad http://www.fastcompany.com/3003305/inside-israeli-militarys-...
walterbell 12y ago
See also Grassroots for Hire, based on a dissertation http://www.techsoc.com/grassroots.html http://www.techsoc.com/grassroots.html "Edward T. Walker, a professor of sociology and that University of California, Los Angeles, captured the results of his detailed study of political consulting firms specializing in grassroots mobilization in his book, Grassroots for Hire: Public Affairs Consultants in American Democracy. The product of several years’ work interviewing grassroots consulting firms and analyzing data on the industry, Walker’s book offers a dispassionate and detailed look into this category of firms."
davecheney 12y ago
We have always been at war with East Asia, like my status!

I immediately thought of the book "New Model Army": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0575083638/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0575083638/ "A giant has brought war to the fields and towns of England's heartland. When the British army brings in air support and deploys heavy weapons he simply melts away, only to form again somewhere else and deliver another devastating blow. He is called Pantegrel, and he is a New Model Army—a giant whose thoughts flow through countless wireless connections, whose intelligence comes from the internet and real-time camera updates, whose mind is made up of thousands of minds, each deciding what he will choose to do. He has chosen the joy of the fight, and his fury is truly democratic—he is me and you. This is a terrifying vision of a near future war as new technologies allow the world's first truly democratic army to wrest control from the powers that be..."

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dmckeon 12y ago

So now social media is a platform for the continuation of war by other means?[0] This feels like a slippery slope potentially leading to a morass of misinformation and confusion, not only among the putative enemy but for all readers. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz

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hackuser 12y ago

Social media operations are not unique to the UK. For example, http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/01/what-your-facebook-posts-mean-us-special-forces/104031/ http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/01/what-your-faceb...

harkyns_castle 12y ago

Might be naive, but it feels to me like this type of propoganda from the various militaries and TLA's should be illegal. I wonder if that's where Google were going with their real name policy... if you can link stuff back to a real person, they're less likely to be a shill. Maybe being generous there.

swatow 12y ago

The Israeli military has been doing this for a while: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/israel-and-palestine/130605/idf-israel-isreali-defense-forces-social-media-twitter-facebook http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/... http://www.fastcompany.com/3003305/inside-israeli-militarys-social-media-squad http://www.fastcompany.com/3003305/inside-israeli-militarys-...

walterbell 12y ago

See also Grassroots for Hire, based on a dissertation http://www.techsoc.com/grassroots.html http://www.techsoc.com/grassroots.html "Edward T. Walker, a professor of sociology and that University of California, Los Angeles, captured the results of his detailed study of political consulting firms specializing in grassroots mobilization in his book, Grassroots for Hire: Public Affairs Consultants in American Democracy. The product of several years’ work interviewing grassroots consulting firms and analyzing data on the industry, Walker’s book offers a dispassionate and detailed look into this category of firms."

davecheney 12y ago

We have always been at war with East Asia, like my status!