DARPA gets into memes with SMISC

Here's part of the DARPA announcement:

The general goal of the Social Media in Strategic Communication (SMISC) program is to develop a new science of social networks built on an emerging technology base. In particular, SMISC will develop automated and semi-automated operator support tools and techniques for the systematic and methodical use of social media at data scale and in a timely fashion to accomplish four specific program goals:

1. Detect, classify, measure and track the (a) formation, development and spread of ideas and concepts (memes), and (b) purposeful or deceptive messaging and misinformation.

2. Recognize persuasion campaign structures and influence operations across social media sites and communities.

3. Identify participants and intent, and measure effects of persuasion campaigns.

4. Counter messaging of detected adversary influence operations.

Hah! Memes get explicitly mentioned!

DARPA say they will "develop a new science of social networks". Hmm - we do have some existing science that deals with social networks...

More coverage:

• Wired: Pentagon Wants a Social Media Propaganda Machine
• Techland: Defense Department Initiative Seeks to Analyze Social Media Patterns
• CCC Blog: DARPA: Learning Warfare from Social Media