War in 140 Characters: How Social Media Is Reshaping Conflict in the Twenty-First Century

This is a fascinating book. Events are written about clearly and with sufficient detail.I really enjoy the wider analysis how news reporting is changing in digital age. I highly recommend this book.

This book could not be more relevant in the world of cyber warfare, social media warriors and understanding the power and pitfalls of citizen journalism to Facebook warriors; from how bedrooms are turned into modern Battlefields to how both recruitment to terror and countering terrorism takes place in the modern cyberworld.As the author concludes "Our information environment is sick. We live in a world where facts are less important than narratives, where people emote rather than debate, and where algorithms shape our view of the world." With everything going on in the world today, ISIS recruitment, disinformation warfare, Kremlin election interference, Facebook being manipulated into helping darker parts of our world, this couldn't be more relevant to, well everyone to read and understand their direct and indirect cyber foot print.

This is a book that, unlike its title, will survive the test of time.Author David Patrikarakos is not only an intrepid journalist, but also an original thinker. He lectures you a whole lot and tends to hang on to the points he makes for far too long, but you forgive him, because he takes you places others haven’t. Literally and figuratively.There are many themes here, of which the following struck me the most:First on propaganda,• once upon a time, the states were in 100% in command of the narrative; today they decidedly aren’t• it’s not old media versus new media; rather, it’s about how you can create feedback between the two• propaganda was once aimed at the civilian population of the enemy; today it’s aimed at the whole worldThe point is also made that in a world of fixed borders –Crimea notwithstanding—the aim of war is often to send a message. The order of events no longer is 1. win on the battlefield 2. get your way with the arrangements for peace. The dynamic has been reversed.Second, on military operations,• in the case of procurement, social media can 100% act as an unofficial branch of the military• for recruitment, social media trumps all previous technology• for intelligence, the free information on the web, properly harnessed by networked civilians, has repeatedly been proven to be superior to traditional military intelligenceThe author does not talk in bulletpoints. Instead, you follow him on a breathless and occasionally perilous tour of the battlefield, virtual or otherwise. He starts with a charming teenager in Gaza, moves on swiftly to the headquarters of her competition at the IDF, from there to a vigilante housewife who privately crowdsources and personally arranges for the delivery of supplies and military equipment the Ukrainian military, takes part in a delivery himself, moves on from there to St. Petersburg to interview a professional troll, introduces you to the crowdsourced forensic evidence regarding the downing of MH17 and interviews a mom who joined ISIS in Raqqa and lived to tell.And he caps it all off with a tremendous concluding chapter, which ties all the strands together and could stand alone as some of the most compelling reading I’ve ever had the pleasure to enjoy. It’s cliché, but the conclusion alone is worth the price of purchase. Start with that, I say.How does it compare with Zeynep Tufekci’s epic “Twitter and Teargas?” I loved it (him?) less, but it taught me more.

That the social media is significantly affecting outr lives is a fact. Bullying leading in some cases to suicide, business dirty tricks, and fake news in general are frequent and on the increase. The breadth of social media warfare tactics used is very,very extensive in all sectors including efforts to fight terrorism, and crime. It is, as one of its founders admitted recently, much used for evil purposes. In brief, social media has become a weapon. It is a very easy weaopon to use. The speed of communications today means one can dramatically multiply the distribution of untrue information. All you need is a smartphone or a computer. Cost is not a deterrent and the skills needed can be mastered in minutes. Civilian and military organisations are well aware of the dangers. It's use in the political electoral process has been well documented.Hence, Social media is not any longer just for contacting friends or bullying It is being used as an effective weapon, a very poisonous one. It differs from cyber warfare in that it requires far fewer technical skills and knowledge. It is also much easier to deploy. War today is no longer a state where military forces have to face each other in a well defined theatre of war. The name of the game now is irregular or unconventional warfare, not please asymmetrical for warfare has always been such. This has resulted from many factors that include: political, economic, and, In particular, globally accessible means of communications. The internet has made insurgency in all forms easier. It is now a strategy open not only to groups like Isis but also to cultural, social, economic and religious factions wishing to harm each other. Guns are no longer needed. Social media warfare provides equal weapons for all.The general reader, understandably, will no doubt find this book a revelation. The military specialist and security specialists howevever will find it not at all new. The dangers of the use of social media against an opponent have been discussed for a long time in our staff colleges and in other service and business establishments.Many books have been published in the last five years that demonstrate that social media warfare is a form of unconventional warfare. Military organisations face great challenges; the author examines its use by Russia in the Ukraine and the Palestinians against Israel . It has been used in a number of other conflicts as has cyber warfare.The military are used to dealing with new threats to national security and training programmes are adapted accordingly. Social media warfare can be used as an offensive and a defensive weapon. Force stability is a common target.In many ways what is happening is a new Cold War. The past is never repeated but if does act as a guide. National Strategy has to be concerned with the present and the future, with articulating a view of the globe, its strategic challenges and opportunities, and with organising limited resources so as to achieve the optimal balance of all kinds of capabilities. Unfortunately, the future is unpredictable. It is vast and protean. The author of this book cannot give us a solution to the problem he outlines. The only feasible one offered here is more and better intelligence.The international security picture is murky. For example, today there is no single, predictable adversarial realationship at state level. The threat is diverse and far more challenging. While we may not be at war, we are not at peace. Threats may not be existential but they are still serious. Today on, for example, on the web and social media there is a plethora of shallow knowledge that at times gives the illusion of profound understanding. Unfortunately, 24 hour news does not equal strategic wisdom.Today, as this book argues, we have to appreciate that threats are no longer only military . Recent gaming scenarios have demonstrated they can take many, many forms. The whole concept of a superpower has recently been challenged.Many studies have shown that today several rogue states such as North Korea and Iran plus Isis are engaged in covert information warfare. They fire salvos from computers and smartphones. Kinetic warfare is not finished but this new kind of warfare is part of the Information Age. Operations now can employ media warfare, legal warfare, psychological warfsre, diplomacy and strategic communications plus disinformation to achieve strategic objectives without using direct military force. The public at large remain ignorant of this new threat. The media have done little to educate them.Social media has emerged as the newest platform in the forefront of information warfare. Twitter, the 140 character microblog boasts over 300 million users. Facebook has two billion users almost 25 per cent of the world's population. Other media have a combined total of some 850 million users. This is a massive army available to be used for good and ill. It is being widely used by China and Russia and many other states.Although this book says little that is new it draws the attention of the general public to a growing menace. As the author points out with only a little exaggeration every new development in information technology has been followed by a period of instability and conflict. The printing press is one such example.An important account for the general public that reveals the immense dangers of the social media. Sadly, all too many people seem unaware of these dangers.. .