Seeking an Online Social Media Radar

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how the application of Systems Engineering tools and techniques can be applied to rapidly process and analyze the vast amounts of data present in social media in order to yield practical knowledge for Command and Control (C2) systems. Design/methodology/approach: Based upon comparative analysis of related literature a conceptual model is proposed and a Systems Engineering trade study conducted for capabilities to predict mass collective action based on social network analysis tools. Findings: The study conducted in the course of this research demonstrates significant relationships between Social Network Analysis (SNA) parameters, which describe Node Influence measured in an online social network, to reported crowd sizes at protest demonstrations. Furthermore, Network Communication variables measured in an online social network were also shown to have significant relationships to reported crowd sizes. It is concluded that while further study of larger datasets is needed, this avenue of approach is warranted and could lead to an operational online social media radar sensor system. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]