Social-Behavioral Modeling for Complex Systems

9 Social Media, Global Connections, and Information Environments: Building Complex Understandings of Multi‐Actor Interactions

Gene Cowherd and Daniel Lende

Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

A New Setting of Hyperconnectivity

Russian spies. Fake news. Bots. Trolls. Social media. Information operations. With news stories and television reports rife with references to recent alleged operations from Russian‐linked actors, it would be easy to conclude that we are living in an age of unprecedented activity of international information operations activity, complete with Cold War era intrigue and espionage. Yet historians would be quick to point out that despite this recent wave of hysteria, this latest activity is only the latest crest in the larger ebb and flow of a tide of international tensions. Intelligence professionals have similarly described a constant din of monitoring and activity that has been largely invisible to the general public.

So, what has changed? A new state of technological hyperconnectivity has provided governments and associated actors with the ability to connect directly with local populations in unprecedented ways. The unification of social media and the news into a signal platform has catalyzed the effectiveness of recent efforts to color political activity and discourse. Given the local impact, once surreptitious tactics in information operations are increasingly part of public discourse. Overall, changing ...