Australian Army soldier Private Ben Hale from 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, provides security at the airfield in the Townsville field training area during Exercise Brolga Run on 19 October 2016.
The debate still rages as to whether social media (SoMe) is a tool for good or evil within military circles. What’s not up for discussion anymore is whether it’s going to last. A recent study on Australians’ usage of SoMe indicates 80% of the population use it; 60% use it every day; 30% it’s the last thing they do at night before going to sleep; 13% use it while on the toilet. I’m totally comfortable with at least three of these stats, and I think we all recognise the numbers are way below the true figure for accessing the internet on the loo. For what it’s worth I’m firmly entrenched in the “good” camp, but recognize that just as there are huge opportunities for us, those opportunities also exist for our adversaries. Below I’d like to highlight what I think is one of the most important opportunities SoMe brings to the profession of arms; getting our people to replace funny cat videos with professional development as their main use of SoMe and how through a focus on this opportunity we also assist in building the counter-narrative to those who wish to use it for nefarious ends.
