It’s been awhile since I posted a good Building Snowmobiles article, and I think I might have stumbled upon something with some meat. Or at least I hope. So with that said, here it is. Instead of chastising ‘citizen journalists’, we should instead encourage what good citizen journalism should be, and better yet, encourage the kind of reporting that would help us to win the fight in whatever battle we are fighting at the time. That battle could be a flood, a fire, a terrorist attack, or even some crazy Black Swan type event. To not take advantage of the human nodes that are closest to those events, is like not taking advantage of the high ground in a battle.
I will even take this a step further. The Department of Homeland Security should actually have Incident Command Teams established to work with and manage the information coming in from these nodes. Citizens with smart phones, who are savvy with Twitter and Facebook, or a personal blog, should be tapped into and we should work with them, as opposed to ignoring or fearing what they have to say. And if we were proactive, DHS could promote what good reportage is and what they are trying to do in these emergencies. It would take commercials and online marketing to get the word out, but once the online community in the US knows the protocols, I think the impact for future incidents would be amazing.
This Incident Command Team could be collecting real time information in a sort of social media fusion center, and that team would be sorting through the information using data mining, cloud computing and any other various methods. The emphasis would be on information engagement, not information control. Especially if the Incident Command Team had a online presence on Twitter and Facebook, or a Team or Incident website. I have seen websites that IC Teams have put up before for fires, so this is not new.
There is so much information coming in from these incidents, and with a little help and guidance to all of these citizen journalists walking around on the scene of the incident, we could be getting some life saving information to the first responders. And with the advent of everyone carrying smart phones, with cameras and microphones built into them, along with access to the internet, then the possibilities are endless. In essence, these citizen journalists should be looked at as walking human sensors or social media warriors, feeding the war room with the kind of information needed to gain the advantage in a quickly evolving fight. A fight that is taking place in the physical, with wounded and dead, and a fight taking place online where the impact of that carnage is being used to fuel a propaganda campaign.
The IC Team could be feeding information to law enforcement agencies that are responding. The medical personnel responding could get a better idea of how many wounded and the kind of injuries, based on these reports. The local community leaders could have better information to respond to their constituents and media with. Military response could get a better picture of the battlefield. The Team media relations officer could have a more complete info packet to give to the media, and also work with the media to help in the fight. Etc., etc. etc.
A team like this could also track inappropriate information that only works against the fight, and engage with that individual and communicate what the team needs them to do. Mrs. Moore (in the article below) could have been given guidance while she was out there. All she wants to do is help, and a Incident Command Team could have been able to reach her and give her guidance before she did any more damage. Better yet, they could work with her and actually get some usable information out of what she is experiencing.
This team can also be used to identify social media enemies on the scene. No doubt, the enemy is reading this stuff and thinking about the possibilities (kind of entering 5th Gen warfare realm now). They could easily assemble a team to work against this Incident Command team and fuel the fire of dis-information, and a real time information war can take place. It is a fight over information, and we must be organized and technologically savvy to deal with this real time information assault. They could have guys running around with camera phones, and posting pictures of the dead and wounded all over the place. They could film the scene, and post it on youtube with the typical jihadi music and banners.
The mobile smart phone is something that we must deal with, when it comes to these incidents, and if we are smart, we can create super empowered individuals with similar smart phones to counter these enemies. Just imagine if Mrs. Moore was working for the other side during this incident? Just imagine the kind of information she could instantly send out that would help the propaganda campaigns of the enemy? Or if the enemy was fueling a unknowing Mrs. Moore as to the kinds of things she should post. They could be egging her on, to only help their cause, and she might not even know that she is helping. That is why we must be prepared and we must be organized to deal with this.
Finally, to really emphasize how important this is. Disasters are a natural part of life, and tornados or fires do not Twitter or use Facebook. But the enemy (criminals, states, terrorists, insane super empowered individuals, etc.) can use Twitter and Facebook, and all other types of social media technologies. So if the enemy has the same access to these technologies as we do, then how do we get an edge in the fight? We must be more organized and prepared, and we must apply OODA to the fight. We must also be better learning organizations and apply Kaizen to all aspects of that organization, so that we can continue to stay one step ahead of the enemy(s). That is the only way in my view, and if we do not, we will definitely lose on the social media battlefield when confronted by a social media empowered enemy, or a citizen journalist that does not know what damage they are inflicting. –Matt
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Twitter-@John_McClane, ‘I just shot one of them in the face, ten more to go. I need a cigarette.’
Ft. Hood Soldier Causes Stir on Twitter
During Fort Hood Shooting, Soldier Uses Twitter, Shares Pictures in Real-Time
By KI MAE HEUSSNER
Nov. 11, 2009—
Amid the tragedy last week at Fort Hood, as officials worked to secure the Texas military base, treat the wounded and account for the dead, one soldier turned to Twitter, sending a stream of up-to-the-minute reports from inside a hospital where the injured were being taken for treatment.
Some messages were simple observations, others expletive-laced commentary.
But in the shooting’s aftermath, the soldier, Tearah Moore, 30, has found herself at the center of a sharp debate about the real-time sharing and whether the military should police the use of new media.
As news started to break about the deadly shooting that killed 12 soldiers and wounded 30 others, some users of the micro-blogging site Twitter started to notice the messages from one user in particular.