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Militaries globally now grapple with the best method to manage information transmitted through new technologies, especially during operations in the information environment aimed to defend the democracy of sovereign states. Through this study, an ethically acceptable approach is sought to counter hostile narratives in a segregated marketplace of ideas. Considering developing countries in Africa, like Nigeria that recently attained 21 years of uninterrupted democracy, how then can they counter the incessant collective violence inspired by new technologies? Building on previous research in this field that focused on quantitative analysis of social media data, I conduct statistical analysis to assess the effect that different forms of discourse may generate in increasing or reducing violence in Nigeria from 2013 to 2014. I find that unifying words and concepts shared on social media in Nigeria are associated with reduced occurrence of collective violence. In addition, I show how social network analysis can be used to provide in-depth visualization of the structure of the influence networks operating in the Nigerian information environment. Lieutenant Colonel, Nigerian Army Approved for public release. distribution is unlimited |
