h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm always interested in the ways in which our long-running institutions adopt new technology. Take the Armed Forces, for example. In some areas they have been pioneers: New weaponry, communications, encryption and code-breaking for example. But what about the biggest new trend of the last 10 years, social media?

For many years, it probably suited the military top brass to operate their campaigns in a climate of secrecy. They wouldn't want to share information with the enemy, nor would they want any reverses to be made public and affect morale. We might expect to hear about their carefully-worded successes as propaganda in the press some time later.

But in this age of mass communication we have 24-hour news channels. Reporters swarm around the front line, sticking microphones in the faces of the weapon-toting soldiers. They beam via satellite reports of every explosion, often from their hotel rooms with panoramic views over the beleaguered war zone.

Media now defines our society, and the military is being forced to catch up.

So, how far has it got? Well, this is the UK Government's regularly updated news report on all the missions they are running during the war on the current crop of Middle-East terrorists:

http://www.gov.uk/government/news/latest-iraq-air-strikes

I learned among other things that the UK are now running their own drone attacks.

Also, but less operationally up-to-date, the Ministry of Defence has its own Blog site:

http://www.blogs.mod.uk/

Flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/defenceimages

…and you can be its friend on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/theministryofdefence

…and subscribe to its Twitter feed:

http://twitter.com/defencehq


So now you can retweet all those successful airstrikes, or indeed, tweet lots of cat pictures to @DefenceHQ

It is ironic that the UK government continues to rattle its sabre while on TV programme after programme reinforces the clear message from World War One: war only serves to renew the conditions for further war.

Criminally futile, seems to be the consensus. When will they ever learn?

I think a lot of it today is about getting your products out there. Defence is a competitive marketplace. We want to make sure the Saudis are watching when we transmit that soft-focus shot of the Brimstone missile strike on Al Jazeera. It's what the British Aerospace shareholders expect to see.

[Amy P]

Just tweet them this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2mabTnMHe8A

And tell them what the Fourth Doctor said, about megalomaniacs being all alike.

Tweeting cat pictures to the defense4 Department sounds like a great idea, and probably will enjoyable to some of the recipients, though they might not admit it.