Part 2 – Recommendation
The U.S. cannot engage the Islamic State “Tweet for Tweet” and expect to win. The United States cannot ignore the social media space or merely use it as a resource for intelligence collection or lethal targeting. Social media provides access to content, but it is ultimately the content that sways the opinion of the viewer or the reader
The US government is attempting to shift public opinion on domestic policy issues using social media to gain an advantage. The White House’s Thunderclap campaign ended in failure as it did not achieve the stated strategic end state of changing federal laws concerning gun control. Combining social media with other methods can render additional effects disproportionate to the level of effort to achieve them. The Islamic State was able to augment its physical combat power in the 2014 battle of Mosul using techniques used by US lawmakers and their surrogates. The US government should apply the same kind of techniques used on domestic issues to foreign policy and military operations.
The United States must shape the social media environment to present enemies with the most challenging environment at the outset. Disaffected people posting on social media should be engaged early and often before they can fall into the cycle of extremism. The perceived effectiveness or favorability of the United States should be readily understood by policy makers and military leaders during the planning phases of any decision or operation. The data is available and could effectively be used for commanders and policy makers to understand their operational environments.
This is a summary of page 93 – 97, and it still needs work.
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