Mexican Drug Wars and Social Media: Deadly Lessons

Read my latest post on the U.S. Army War College's DIME Blog at http://bit.ly/ppf5Xw. The DIME Blog is a product of the Army's Center for Strategic Leadership, where I am currently serving as the 2011-2012 Visiting Professor of Strategic Communication.

Here's a preview of my blog post, "Mexican Drug Wars and Social Media: Deadly Lessons in Information Power":

Recent CNN and New York Times news reports raise thought-provoking albeit disturbing notions about social media as a means to enable the information element of power. The reports about Mexico’s rampant drug war offer a case study of how law-enforcement, para-military, and military agencies need to adapt to the increasingly influential role of news and social media in power struggles.  



Late editor Maria Macias



The CNN report (“Mexican Editor's Death Linked to Work with Social Media,” Sept. 27) and three New York Times reports ("Mexico Paper, a Drug War Victim, Calls for a Voice," Sept. 20, by Randal C. Archibold; "In Mexico, Social Media Become a Battleground in the Drug War," Sept. 15, by J. David Goodman; and "Mexico Turns to Social Media for Information and Survival", Sept. 24, by Damien Cave") all described grisly murders of journalists like Maria Macias (right) and other social media users, allegedly by members of drug gangs, as a means to discourage Internet reports about gang activities.

A synthesis of these stories reveals how social media has become such an influential means of information power that adversaries are now battling for control of this space. In particular, a careful reading of the Times reports provides a sense of how strategic communication activities are becoming the center of gravity that Prof. Dennis Murphy wrote about in this blog on Sept. 14 (“Resources: How Important is Information as Power?”). Just as Murphy wrote, “Destroy the center of gravity directly then, and you defeat your enemy,” the Mexican drug cartels are attempting to destroy Mexico’s system of free speech and defeat the will of people to oppose their illicit activities.

First, social media must be managed strategically. According to Cave, social media can “create and destroy communities.” Veracruz’s State Assembly recently passed legislation outlawing use of social media to undermine public order. Also, the recent murders of online journalists exemplify the personal risks of reporting via social media in Mexico. Still, social media can promote public safety by warning people to stay away from areas where drug cartel violence erupts. According to one Twitter user quoted in Cave’s article, “People’s lives are saved with Twitter.”

Second, social media is pervasive. Many Mexicans see social media as essential for survival, and social media can unify citizens dispersed over large areas. Cave reported that there are more than four million Twitter subscribers in Mexico and, of more than 30 million Internet users, 95 percent have Facebook accounts.

Third, social media fills a psychological need. Many Mexicans see the traditional pillars of state and press as contaminated by organized crime. Social media authors on the other hand are viewed as independent and trustworthy. According to a doctoral student at the University of Texas quoted by Cave, social media in Mexico “fulfill the need for information in an immediate and accessible way and, on a deeper, psychological level, provide some knowledge or certainty in the face of uncertainty.”

Finally, social media can be a source of reliable information. News reports can be “bundled” on social media channels like Twitter, which contains streams of content organized by “hashtags” that connect tweets of similar content or subject matter. This bundling allows readers to aggregate information instead of relying on isolated, unconnected reports. Social media is also self-regulated. According to one researcher interviewed by Goodman, “Most of the information [on social media] is reliable and the information that is not often goes ignored.” Furthermore, a large percentage of tweets are actually retweets, which are “curated” by others and scrubbed for reliability.

For a deeper analysis of this issue and its relationship with U.S. policy on using information as an element of power read my complete post on the DIME Blog.

Marist PR Students Selected for Innovative Crowd Sourcing Program

Gaining an edge in today's global marketplace is critical. Marist College public relations students are learning this lesson first-hand by participating in an innovative program from Ketchum that allows them to tackle real client challenges as part of a worldwide digital community.

Seventeen students in Professional Lecturer Jennie Donohue's Public Relations Case Studies class are among those from top communication schools around the globe selected to participate in Ketchum's Mindfire program, an open innovation crowd sourcing site for students. Ketchum, one of the world's leading communication firms, gives students the opportunity to work together to provide fresh creative ideas for clients in return for unique incentives and prizes.

Currently more than 300 graduate and undergraduate students representing more than 30 leading colleges and universities in North America, Europe, Asia and South America are collaborating on domestic and overseas business challenges facing Ketchum and its clients. More than 60 of the agency's clients including Hertz, Wendy's and Frito-Lay North America have used Mindfire for creative inspiration.

"We're excited that our students have been invited to work with Ketchum and its clients in such a unique way," said Steven Ralston, dean of the Marist College School of Communication and the Arts. "The Mindfire program allows our students to obtain hands-on, real-world experience that taps their creative, strategic thinking and digital skills in a student-centered, global learning environment – a hallmark of the Marist experience."

In addition to gaining valuable experience to add to their resumes, students participating on Mindfire may be eligible to receive career coaching, training and job alerts from Ketchum along with prizes provided by the clients that issue each challenge.

Courtesy of Marist College School of Communication and the Arts "In the News" (http://www.marist.edu/commarts/news.html)

Social Media: A New Information Center of Gravity

Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend the 2011 Social Media Summit (Wednesday, Sept. 14) at Harrisburg University. I accompanied my colleague from the U.S. Army War College, Dennis Murphy, professor of information operations. Professor Murphy, a member of the summit's Social Media and the Military panel, delivered a presentation entitled “Fighting Back: New Media and Military Operations.”

The summit featured a variety of other panels and presentations on social media and education, job searches, organizational policy, legal issues, political change, life sciences, intellectual property, and even disconnecting from social media. Click here for a complete listing and links to videos of the summit’s panels.

The summit provided an excellent opportunity to listen to experts, speak with colleagues, and consider the impacts of social media on our military profession and our personal lives. The day was brief but packed full of information – not unlike a 140-character message on Twitter. After deciphering all of this information, I identified a few themes that emerged during the summit.

• Social media is here to stay. Summit organizers provided a list of amazing facts that indicate social media is not merely part of a passing fad. Social media is, increasingly, fueling business practices. For instance, 80% of companies use social media to recruit and hire new employees; and 95% of those companies use LinkedIn. Even more impressive, in July 2011, 38 million people reported that social media influenced their purchasing decisions, an increase of 14% from only six months earlier.

• Social media is ubiquitous. Social media touches the lives of billions of people daily. Facebook attracted 500,000,000 users in 2011, or one in every 13 peopleon the planet. Also, 46% of the world’s humans access social media platforms – every day; and 57% of these people spend more time talking to each other online than they do offline. For example, in an average 20-minute period in 2010, Facebook recorded 1,587,000 Wall posts; 2,716,000 photo uploads; and 10,208,000 published comments.

• Social media is no longer the domain of youngsters. Adults in the 35- to 54-year-old age group represent the largest group of followers on Facebook. And our mobile society uses a variety of devices to follow each other more and more closely. Twitter members exchanged 50 million tweets daily in 2010, which pales in comparison to the average of 100 million tweets a day that have gone back and forth so far in 2011. And speaking of mobility, Twitter use on mobile devices rose 347% over the last year.

Upon returning from the summit, I published a post on the DIME Blog of the Center for Strategic Leadership, U.S. Army War College. The DIME Blog addresses issues related to the information component (I) of national military power, with the other elements of national power being diplomacy (D), military (M), and economics (E).

In the DIME Blog post, I elaborated on the influence of social media on military strategic communication activities, coining one of Professor's Murphy's descriptions of social media as a "center of gravity" in U.S. military operations. Click here to read and comment on the entire post.

*Follow tweets from the summit on Twitter, hash tag #HUSocialSummit

Taliban's Internet Strategy -- Information Power

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on its website late last week ("The Taliban's Internet Strategy," Sept. 9, by Bashir Ahmad Gwakh), that the Taliban is developing an increasingly sophisticated Internet-based strategic communication approach in its fight against the United States and other Western nations.

In its report, RFE/RL quoted Abdul Sattar Maiwandi, the web editor of a Taliban website, who addressed the importance of information in warfare and the influence of news media. Reportedly, in an interview with Al-Emarah, the official Taliban website, Abdul Sattar Maiwandi observed, "Wars today cannot be won without media." He then added, "Media aim at the heart rather than the body, [and] if the heart is defeated, the battle is won."

Abdul Sattar Maiwandi seems to have studied well the strategic art of information in warfare. As I have learned here at the U.S. Army War College, victory in asymmetric warfare often means simply surviving. Despite the U.S.-led coalition's dismantling of the Taliban government in Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, Taliban resistance continues and, some claim, is in resurgance in Afghanistan. If so, this development would support the notion that a smaller, more poorly armed group could outlast a more powerful force by avoiding destruction while it erodes the political will and means for that force to continue fighting.

This is not unlike the situation that Western governments now find themselves in, with economic conditions that are leading to reductions in military budgets and a refocusing of public attention from international conflict to domestic problems. At least in the United States, however, public opinion still supports the fight against terrorism, with nearly two-thirds of U.S. citizens expressing a willingness to give up some personal privacy and freedoms to continue the fight. Click here for more from AP.

Still, public support among Western nations seems to be at a tipping point, which increases the need for effective strategic communication efforts to counter and defeat Taliban propaganda. The reports of Taliban propaganda efforts are not new. News organizations like the BBC have been covering this story for nearly a decade.

But recent reports of the Taliban's use of social media and other emerging Internet-based forms of communication to prey upon willingness to fight further highlight the need to stay ahead of the Taliban in terms of employing information as an element of power. Organizations like the U.S. Army War College's Information in Warfare Group in the Center for Strategic Leadership are at the forefront of this effort. Visit the group's website for details of its information programs.

But more work may be needed to counter any increased investments by the Taliban in its information campaign. Just consider the alternatives. According to a BBC report in 2009, "The propaganda fight is intense because whoever wins it will gain the support of the people and stands a chance of winning the war on the ground too."

2011 Social Media Summit, Harrisburg (PA) University of Science & Technology

I'm looking forward to attending the 2011 Social Media Summit, held at Harrisburg University of Science & Technology next Wednesday, Sept. 14. I will accompany Professor Dennis Murphy, director of the U.S. Army War College's Information in Warfare Group, in the Center for Strategic Leadership. He will be a featured panelist for the Summit's 12:30-1:45 event, "Social Networks and the Military." Dennis and other panelists will discuss the difficult balancing act of using social media as an important communication channel while protecting against threats to military security as well as the safety and privacy rights of military members and families.

Prof. Dennis Murphy

Dennis is Professor of Information Operations and Information in Warfare at the U.S. Army War College's Center for Strategic Leadership. He served on active duty as an Army officer for 27 years and has published extensively on information operations, strategic communication, network centric warfare and national security issues. He was the first George C. Marshall Fellow for Political-Military and Diplomatic Gaming at the Department of State's Foreign Service Institute in 1999. He also has vast experience in information operations (IO) and strategic communication in combat and peace operations. As a result, he is in high demand as a speaker and panelist at forums like the 2011 Social Media Summit.

Click here for more information on the Social Media Summit. Click this link for more information on Dennis Murphy.

Cyberterrorism: New Information Frontier

Jeff Caton

Congratulations to U.S. Army War College colleague Associate Professor Jeff Caton for his invitation to appear with author Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down) at the Oct. 5 World Affairs Council of Philadelphia forum on cyberterrorism. 




Mark Bowden

Bowden has written a new book, Worm: The First Digital World War (Grove/Atlantic), due out this October. In the book, Bowden explores the dynamic interplay between our hunger for Internet access and the risks associated with viruses, security flaws, personal privacy, network attacks, etc.

Jeff, whose office is next door to mine, is Professor of Cyberspace Operations here at the U.S. Army War College. He served for 28 years as an active-duty Air Force officer and has authored 13 professional publications and many book reviews. He is has gained national recognition as an expert on cyberspace as well as space, missile, and nuclear operations. Jeff and I often debate the merits of social media and other Internet-based forms of communication versus the risks associated with such open communication and personal privacy in cyberspace. The conversation between Jeff and Mark Bowden should be fascinating.

For more information about Jeff's appearance at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia event on Oct. 5, check the council's website: http://www.wacphila.org/programs/center_city.html. You can also click this link for Jeff's biography.

Marist PRSSA President Alexis Murphy Receives National Gold Key Award

Congratulations to Marist College senior communication major (Public Relations) Alexis Murphy for receiving the prestigious Public Relations Student Society of America's (PRSSA) annual Gold Key Award. This national award recognizes outstanding public relations student leaders who best exemplify excellence in the academic study of public relations, ambitious pursuit of professional development opportunities, and leadership in their PRSSA Chapter.

To even be considered for the award, students must meet the following, very selective criteria:

 

• Have been a PRSSA member for at least two years.
• Be a senior or graduate student. (Seniors may apply up to one year after graduation.)
• Have a GPA of at least 3.4 in your major.
• Have held a PRSSA leadership position at the Chapter or National level.
• Have completed at least one public relations internship, approved by your Faculty or Professional Adviser.
• Affirm intention to become a PRSA Associate Member within one year of graduating.

Alexis has been an active member of the Marist College Red Foxes Chapter of PRSSA since her freshman year. She is currently serving as president of the chapter and served previously as the chapter's vice president. She has been instrumental in the chapter's professional growth and visibility on the national level. Among other accomplishments, she helped manage the chapter's first online leadership development forum, which was featured on the national PRSSA website. She also contributed to the establishment of the chapter's new student-run public relations firm, Northroad Communications LLC.

A complete list of previous Gold Key Award recipients is listed at http://bit.ly/pn7Q8q.