Is Social Media a Threat or Can It Be a Trusted Agent?
Abstract:
There is a prevailing belief within the United States Department of Defense (DOD) that social media is a threat to national security, leading to restrictions in workplace use of social-media applications. However, instead of dismissing social media as a threat, leaders should be asking whether or not the information received via social media can be trusted, thus leveraging the information-sharing capabilities of social media. This article presents a theoretical case for quantifying social media trustworthiness by exploring the factors that influence trust in social media and proposing a trust framework to be used to quantify trustworthiness.
AUTHORS
College of Business Administration University of Nebraska,Omaha
USA
William 'Doug' Ward is currently serving as the Deputy Chief of the Global Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Capabilities Branch in the Global ISR and Space Division, United States Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Nebraska. In this capacity, he provides timely, critical and relevant advocacy information on current and future ISR and Missile Warning warfighter requirements. Mr. Ward served as a U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer for two years as a Chemical and Biological Warfare Intelligence Analyst at U.S. Strategic Command prior to continuing service as a Department of the Air Force Civilian. In 2002, Mr. Ward was selected for the Legislative Studies Fellowship program supporting the U.S. Air Force in the Senate Liaison Office and the Air Force Legislative Liaison Weapons Division, graduating in 2003. In 2005, Mr. Ward returned to U.S. Strategic Command as a Lead Program Analyst in the Global Space and ISR Division. During his most recent tenure at USSTRATCOM, he has worked various programmatic and advocacy issues regarding Missile Warning and Space, Maritime, Air, and Terrestrial ISR, culminating in his current role as Deputy Branch Chief. Mr. Ward was 1 of 10 out of 1,300 eligible applicants, handpicked by senior executive board to be a Leadership Fellow in a graduate-level program between U.S. Strategic Command and the University of Nebraska focused on enhancing demonstrated leadership skills and posturing Fellows for senior responsibilities in the Department of Defense.
College of Business Administration University of Nebraska, Omaha
USA
Katherine 'Suzy' Cole-Miller is the Chief of the Targeting and Quality Review Branch, Plans Application Support Division, C4 Systems Directorate in the Joint Functional Component Command-Global Strike. She oversees the information technology applications required for the Nation's only nuclear targeting capability and nuclear assured quality review capability. Additionally, she manages USSTRATCOM's decision support capability for the nuclear war plan. Prior to joining the Department of the Air Force civilian force, Ms. Cole-Miller served in the U.S. Air Force performing ICBM Launch Officer/Instructor duties and satellite software acquisitions. Ms. Cole-Miller was also selected for the Leadership Fellowship Program, a graduate-level program between U.S. Strategic Command and the University of Nebraska focused on enhancing demonstrated leadership skills and posturing Fellows for senior responsibilities in the Department of Defense where she collaborated with Doug Ward (one of the co-authors of her article in this issue of JIW) on analysing Department of Defense Social Media policies.
College of Information Science and Technology University of Nebraska, Omaha
USA
Ann Fruhling, Ph.D., MBA, is a Mutual of Omaha Distinguished Professor of the College of Information Science and Technology and the founding Director of the School of Interdisciplinary Informatics at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Dr. Fruhling’s research focuses on evaluating and improving human-computer interaction efficiency and effectiveness in the healthcare domain. Dr. Fruhling has over 85 publications. Some of her research has appeared in Journal of Management Information Systems, Communications of the AIS, Health Systems, International Journal of Medical Informatics, Applied Clinical Informatics, Advances in Management Information Systems, Journal of Information Technology and Theory Application, Journal of Computer Information Systems, and International Journal of Electronic Health Care. She is the Core Competency Research Coordinator for the National Strategic Research Institute and, in the past, served as a Research Scholar on the Command and Control Software Engineering and Support.
College of Information Science and Technology University of Nebraska, Omaha
USA
Kate Cooper is an Assistant Professor of Big Data in the School of Interdisciplinary Informatics at University of Nebraska, Omaha. She received her PhD in Pathology and Microbiology from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2013. Her background lies firmly in bioinformatics, and she specializes in the identification of actionable hypotheses using network-based analysis of genomic and proteomic ‘big’ data. Other interests include expanding these approaches to studies in public health, disaster preparedness, and strategic biodefense. Dr. Cooper has been a member of the UNO Bioinformatics research group since 2005 and has found success collaborating on a number of disease-related biomedical research projects, including but not limited to hearing, arenaviruses, HIV/AIDs, Chikungunya virus, Burkitt's lymphoma, and aging.
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Journal of Information Warfare
The definitive publication for the best and latest research and analysis on information warfare, information operations, and cyber crime. Available in traditional hard copy or online.
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