7 rules for how military leaders should use social media

Peter Singer wrote an article for Task & Purpose suggesting how military leaders can use social media responsibly.

Fifty years ago this month, a small Pentagon project designed to allow scientists to share time on the early versions of computers changed the world. The first links of what originally called “ARPANET” moved us all into the Internet Age, changing everything from business, dating, to daily reads.

Along the way, though, the Internet also became a new kind of battlefield. Nations, organizations, and even individuals are now hacking not just the networks themselves (a.k.a. “cyberwar,” where the object is to breach a network), but also increasingly the people on them (what can be thought of as “likewar,” where the object is to drive something viral through a mix of likes, shares, and sometimes lies).

Some in the old guard argue social media is irrelevant to the real world and should be avoided completely by military members, especially given operational security concerns. Others argue the opposite and treat it like free-fire zone with the accompanying risks. There is a middle ground, however.