Facebook and other social notworking sites are being used by the US army to hunt insurgents and save American lives in Afghanistan.
Social networking analysts, who are mostly in their early to mid-20s,
are apparently helping the US army fight battles with few casualties on
both sides. They are sitting in rooms in the US watching feeds and
reporting on them.
According to the
New York Times,
the skills of Facebook are apparently helping the analysts pass on the
latest data from drones and other spy planes. They are creating the
fluid connections needed to hunt small groups of fighters and other
fleeting targets, military officials claim. The networking has been so
productive that senior commanders are giving the analysts leeway in
deciding how to use some spy planes to speed things up a bit.
Besides looking at the video feeds, the analysts scan still images and
enemy conversations. They log the information into chatrooms and carry
on running dialogue with drone crews and commanders and intelligence
specialists in the field. Apparently it paid off during the Marja
offensive in February, the analysts managed to stay a step ahead of the
advance, sending alerts about 300 or so possible roadside bombs.