I’m planning to read the classic book “The Guns of August” by Barbara Tuchman. I’ve been thinking about how often times we base our current decisions and strategies on that which we have learned in the past, without understanding that our world has changed around us. “The Guns of August” describes how that exact thinking is what led us to World War I – by 1914 the world had changed technologically, economically and culturally since earlier wars. That meant that the military philosophies of the world’s leaders and the very nature of warfare had to change as well…but it didn’t and serious miscalculations resulted in a long, drawn out, costly World War.

How does this related to social media?  I think that the world has changed significantly with the advent of the Internet and social media:  people in third world countries are carrying cell phones even though they travel on dirt roads; netizens armed with smartphones, Youtube and Twitter rose up against Iranian leadership; and virtual wars are taking place regularly on the Internet.  To me, this means that the very nature of modern warfare has to change as well.  Perhaps weapons that inflict physical damage on the enemy won’t go as far in this new world as “smart” weapons that hit the enemy via social media sites, smartphone applications and denial-of-service attacks.  I think that in order to be competitive in the future, we must become experts in these new technologies so that we are prepared for the battles to be fought on the virtual landscape.