Using Social Media for Global Security

Chapter 13

Delivering Services through Crowdsourcing

The spread of social media and other technologies continues to empower non-state actors and increase the connections between seemingly disparate populations. Accelerated connectivity is producing conditions where poor standards of living and oppressive lifestyles in one part of the world can produce ideologies and epidemics that can cause catastrophe in other parts. The norms and arguments that define global security are shifting with the realities of contemporary global connectivity. Thus, in some cases, the provision of adequate education and health services is becoming critical to ensuring security and stability. The link between health and security is even more pronounced and apparent. Today, social media technologies can enable the provision of such services in areas where they are critical to ensuring security but are nonexistent or crippled for various reasons. This chapter explores how you can use social media to deliver educational and health services in remote parts of the world.

Delivering Education

Inadequate access to education, especially for girls in rural areas, can severely damage a population's health and security.¹ Major powers such as the United States consider increasing global access to mainstream education important to maintaining global security and are, therefore, undertaking efforts to build schools and provide school materials in poor, dangerous, and denied areas. Also, they wish to push back against ...