Although I am often irritated by a generation enslaved by social media, the opportunities and benefits presented by social media platforms are admittedly vast. For many, social media interaction has become an integral and essential part of everyday life. Social media is relied on for news, marketing and entertainment. It provides a forum for people to express opinions and share ideas.
The concept of “personal rights” has become central to the norms embraced by modern society. Any perceived infringement on the personal right to privacy, inevitably results in a huge uproar. Yet, people are willing to voluntarily surrender every little detail of their lives and their deepest personal thoughts and believes to digital databases.
The term “intelligence” is used to refer to a person’s intellectual abilities. It is also used as a reference to useable information. Social media is a rich source of the one but often seems devoid of the other. (I trust that the comic irony of my comments being made on social media will not go unnoticed).
The astounding volume of information disseminated on social media platforms is a goldmine for marketing enterprises and apparently, intelligence agencies. Invaluable data is available to anybody with the ability to filter intelligence from the murky pool of irrelevant personal opinions and comments by eager commentators who most often know absolutely nothing about the topic they insist on debating. In the 3G thriller series, Balancing the Scales, Finding the Way and Raising the Bar, the realities of digital data mining and the use of technology in the fight against crime are explored. Wytze, Wayne and Matt Moolman, with the rest of the 3G group are masters at distilling crucial intelligence from the digital information flood. 3G strategies are based on relentless research and careful contingency planning.