Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1. The aggressive policy of the United States in the world
1.1.1. 1991-2001 Yugoslavia
1.1.2. 2001 - ? Afghanistan
1.1.3. 2003 - ? Iraq
1.1.4. 2008 South Ossetia
1.1.5. 2010 - ? The Arab Spring
1.1.6. Color Revolutions
1.1.7. 1989 The Velvet (non violent) revolution in Czechoslovakia
1.1.8. 2003 The Rose Revolution in Georgia
1.1.9. 2004 The Orange Revolution in Ukraine
1.1.10. 2005 The Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan
1.2. The History of Information Wars
1.2.1. The Cold War as an example of information war
1.2.2. Iraq
1.2.3. Chechnya
1.2.4. South Ossetia
1.2.5. The Arab Spring
1.2.6. Ukraine: Euromaidan
Chapter 2. Work Concept
Chapter 3: Think Tank
3.1. Analytics
3.2. Monitoring
3.3. Educational unit
Chapter 4. The areas of work
4.1. Working with the mass media and political forums of the USA
4.1.1. General description of the department
4.1.2. General audience. Sites
4.1.3. Work options
4.1.4. Requirements for the content
4.1.5. Requirements for the employees
4.1.6. Performance assessment. Accountability
4.1.7. Security issues
4.2. Working in Tumblr
4.2.1. General description of the department
4.2.2. General audience. Sites
4.2.3. Work options
4.2.4. Requirements for the content
4.2.5. Requirements for the employees
4.2.6. Performance assessment. Accountability
4.2.8. Security issues
4.3. Working in Twitter
4.3.1. General description of the department
4.3.2 General audience Sites
4.3.3. Work options
4.3.4. Examples
4.3.5. Requirements for the content
4.3.6. Job duties and employee requirements
4.3.7. Performance assessment. Accountability
4.3.8. Security issues
4.3.9.Automation
4.4. Working in Facebook
4.4.1. General description of the department
4.4.2. General audience. Sites
4.4.3. Work options
4.4.4. Requirements for the content
4.4.5. Requirements for the employees
4.4.6. Performance assessment. Accountability
4.4.7. Security issues
4.5. Working in Youtube
4.5.1. General description of the department
4.5.2. General audience. Sites
4.5.3. Work options
4.5.4. Requirements for the content
4.5.5. Requirements for the employees
4.5.5. Performance assessment. Accountability
4.5.7. Security issues
Chapter 5. Working in other social networks
Chapter 6: Conclusion.
Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1. The aggressive policy of the United States in the world
“Our rulers for more than half a century have made sure that we are never to be told the truth about
anything that our government has done to other people, not to mention… our own… Since V-] Day 1945
("Victory over Japan" and the end of World War II), we have been engaged in what the historian Charles
A. Beard called "perpetual war for perpetual peace." America has been the chief and pioneering
perpetrator of "preemptive" state terror, exclusively in the Third World and therefore widely dissembled.”
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (2002)
These words belong to famous American writer and could be considered as his answer to the events of
September 11. Back then the Western World crossed an invisible border between not calendar, but
historical XX and XXI centuries. But it is a mistake to think that the United States was not an aggressive
state before the end of the World War II. “Perpetual war” is a normal condition for the United States. For
a little over two hundred years of the official history the US has taken part in more than five hundred
conflicts overseas. For the sake of justice, more than three hundred conflicts took place after 1946. The
largest events were Korean War (1950-1953), Indochina Wars, occupation of the Dominican Republic
(1965-1966) and Invasion of Grenada (1983).
“We have created a society whose main occupation is violence… For many years now, we either by our
own desire, or by others’ desire, fight or are ready to immediately start a war anywhere in the world.”
James William Fulbright (1992)
These words belong to American Democrat James Fulbright and they truly correspond with the "historical
spirit" of the US. For a long time the country was seen as one of the “superpowers” of the Cold War, then,
after the fall of the
Soviet Union, as the
only center of the
unipolar world.
For the past twenty
years we could see the
concept of the so-called
“soft-power”
(informational and
financial pressure on
geopolitical subjects on
the governmental and
non-governmental
levels) in American
foreign policy. That is
why US Armed forces located at 735 military bases in 84 countries will be used only when it is necessary
to defend the interests of the “Empire of Freedom” or “Dollar Empire”. A necessity that arises too often.
1.1.1. 1991-2001 Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, where in 1991 the largest ethnic group were Serbs (36% of
the population), during the Cold War(since 1961) was together with India and Egypt one of the founders
of the Non-Aligned Movement . It included more than 120 countries which were members of neither
NATO, nor the Warsaw Pact. The destruction of SFRY began almost at the same moment as the
destruction of the USSR and was conducted using the same scheme of " sovereignization " of the Union
Republics, with the recognition of the controversial administrative boarders between them as interstate. It
caused a lot of ethnical and religious conflicts which led to a real tragedy of the Serbian people when
more than two million Serbs happened to be outside the sovereign national territory. And after the
separation of Kosovo and Metohija the territory itself became three times smaller compared to the borders
of 1913.
The apotheosis of the tragedy was the operation "Allied Forces" (March-June 1999). For three months, not
having a UN mandate, NATO war planes were bombing Serbian cities “to stop ethnic cleansing.” At the
same time 70.000 American soldiers were deployed in Albania, Macedonia, as well as Bosnia and
Herzegovina creating the threat of invasion of the Serbian territory. Wesley Kanne Clark commanded the
NATO forces. Casus belli became the refusal of the official Belgrade to withdraw its troops from Kosovo
and Metohija which meant the establishment of the rule of Kosovo Liberation Army(who were practicing
genocide of Serbs). During 78 days NATO was continuously bombing Serbia using cluster bombs and
depleted uranium shells. As a result, this caused increased civilian casualties and radioactive
contamination. According to NATO, they made more than 35,000 flights during which more than 23
thousand bombs and missiles were used. They also used 218 sea-based missiles and 60 air-launched
missiles. They literally tried to “bomb Serbia into the stone Age.” About 1700 people died in Serbia, more
than 9000 were injured, 550 000 lost their jobs, about 7 000 lost their homes. According to Spaso
Smilyanich(Serbian Colonel-General), the result of the aggression of the US and its NATO allies was the
destruction of 89 plants and factories including petrochemical complex in Pancevo, 128 other objects of
the industry and service sector, 120 power facilities, 14 aerodromes, 48 hospitals, 118 radio and TV
towers, 82 bridges, 61 tunnel and road junction, 25 post offices and telegraphs, 70 schools, 18
kindergartens, 13 university buildings, including 4 dormitories, 29 monasteries and 35 churches. The
aggregate damage to the Serbian economy is estimated at $29 billion.
The results of the operation were the actual destruction of the Serbian army, the withdrawal of their units
from the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, and the proclamation of the republic of Kosovo as their state
by Kosovo Albanians.
1.1.2. 2001 - ? Afghanistan
September 11 terrorist attacks became the motive for the US government to organize military intervention,
codename “Operation Enduring Freedom.” The first foreign policy demand of 43rd US President George
Walker Bush on the day of the tragedy was the demand for the Taliban government in Kabul to
immediately give the United States authorities the alleged organizer of the attack – the leader of "Al-
Qaeda" Osama bin Laden. The Taliban took 10 days to think, but after that time they said that their leader
is not guilty, and there is no evidence of his involvement in the events. That is why on October 7 the Air
Forces of Great Britain and the USA began bombing Kabul and other territories controlled by the Taliban.
Ground operations against the Taliban were held by NATO troops – armed, equipped and getting all the
necessary information from the American allies. The ISAF troops (mostly American) created on the
territory of Afghanistan a chain of about 80 military bases for training and teaching of official Afghanistan
army. The personnel tried not to leave the territory of the bases unless there was a special operation.
However, the losses of the US Army in Afghanistan made about 2300 people within 13 years. Still,
specialists think that the numbers were underreported because statistics does not include those who died in
hospitals outside the country.
The result of the “Enduring Freedom” operation was the establishment of US control over the production
and sales of opium drugs, including heroin. During years of American occupation the production of raw
opium has increased almost 60 times and helped Afghanistan to displace from the world market its
competitors from the so called "golden triangle"(Thailand, Myanmar, Laos) controlled by the Chinese
triads.
The control over Afghanistan drug traffic became the traditional “apple of discord” between American
government, army and secret services. For many times the conflicts have been the cause of numerous
decisions of Washington to withdraw the US forces from Afghanistan. But all the plans were over before
real actions and then followed another Taliban attack. It was a clear demonstration of insolvency of the
Afghan agents of the CIA and the inability to maintain their status quo.
1.1.3. 2003 - ? Iraq
If Afghanistan is a drug country production of which gives more than 1,000% profit, Iraq is a country of
oil and gas the control over which since the creation of the American oil monopolist Standard Oil has been
the basis of the "empire of the dollar." On the Iraqi territory there are located almost 9% of the world
reserves of "black gold", about 150 billion barrels, the market value of which is estimated at about $ 15
trillion. American expert Thomas Hartman gave an even greater and more exact number of Iraqi oil
reserves – 432 billion barrels. It is important that the cost of the production of Iraqi oil is about $ 10.05 per
barrel, given the logistics costs - $15 per barrel. In addition, the quality of raw materials is high making
Iraq one of the key players in the global oil market.
And it is not surprising that Washington is trying to control Baghdad (Washington helped the Ba’Ath
party to destroy communism, and operation Desert Storm in 1991). In the latter example the position of
American ambassador provoked the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait after which anti-Iraq campaign in major
mass media followed. Operation Desert Storm was one of the first special operations held without any
comments from the Soviet Union making it the first military operation of the unipolar world. After the
success of Desert Storm upon the initiative of the Washington severe economic sanctions were introduced
against the regime of Saddam Hussein. The sanctions were paired with periodical strikes at military and
economical objects of the country. Like January 17, 1993 when a facility located about 20 km from the
center of Baghdad where according to the statements made by the current administration of President
George Herbert Walker Bush there were conducted works to develop nuclear weapons was struck by a
missile. Six months later, on June 26, 1993 a missile strike at the main command and control complex of
Iraqi intelligence in Baghdad was made. The US side commented this incident and said that it was the
answer to the head of the US murder plan. In addition, on September 3, 1996 the US military struck Iraq
with cruise missiles in response to Iraq's operation against the Kurds in Erbil region in northern Iraq.
Another excuse for the American aggression against Iraq in 2003 was hyped in the media campaign which
accused Saddam Hussein in supporting "Al-Qaeda" and developing the weapons of mass destruction. The
apotheosis of this campaign was the speech of US Secretary of State Colin Powell at the UN Security
Council meeting on February 5, 2003. The head of the US Foreign Service tried to convince the
international community that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. Powell said
that Iraq was close to obtaining nuclear weapons, and any moment the arsenal might be in the hands of
"Al-Qaeda" and other Islamic terrorist organizations. Later Colin Powell admitted that he had to rely on
"inaccurate and incorrect" information from the sources "deliberately misleading". The same was
confirmed at the hearing in the UK in 2010 by the former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Washington and
London knew about the mendacity of the charges leveled against Iraq, but insisted on them believing that
the overthrow of Saddam Hussein would "make the world safe." Of course, they didn’t say anything about
natural resources. Although most likely the main fault of the "bloody dictator" Saddam, later executed by
the Americans, was neither the collusion with terrorists, or crimes against humanity, or nuclear weapons,
but transferring the payments for the sale of Iraqi oil to euro in the end of 2000.
The invasion of Iraq began in the morning, on March 20, 2003. The operation that had not received the
mandate from the United Nations got the code named "Operation Iraqi Freedom". In this case 23 Iraqi
divisions confronted 4 American and 1 British division. However, despite such alignment of forces, the
ground operations began practically with no air and missile strikes phase traditional for the US. America
postponed the date of invasion dozens of times and even sent its “peace supporting” congressmen to
Baghdad after the beginning of the war. The Iraqi forces were holding off the attack for two weeks and as
a result did not surrender a single city. But immediately after the accusations in betrayal from the Anglo-
Saxon allies local troops suddenly stopped resisting.
The only consistent version of the events related to the "Iraqi Freedom" is that the four-week military
operations were simply a disguise for "elite bargaining" made through emissaries of the CIA and other
governmental agencies of America. The result of the bargain was the surrender of Saddam Hussein, the
dissolution of the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (Ba'ath) and the fragmentation of the country into
three zones: the Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish.
The guerilla actions against the invaders were wide spread on the territory of Iraq: almost 4.5 thousand
American soldiers died in 2003-2011 (when the US troop contingent was withdrawn). The maximum
amount of contingent in Iraq, including the USA and its allies (in 2008), reached more than 300 thousand
people (Americans only made 250 thousand). The casualties from the Iraqi side, including military
personnel and civilians, made up, according to different sources, from 500 thousand to 1.5 million people.
Besides hundred thousands of fatal casualties, millions of civilians suffered from the tortures comparable
to Gestapo torments in Nazi Germany.
The last stroke of US presence in Iraq was the creation of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
At the moment the group has gained control over main Iraqi oil fields, as well as over several Sunni
districts of neighboring Syria, with a perspective to expand the control to the west and to reach the
Mediterranean Sea. This will provide Europe with Iraqi oil cutting the traditional costs of the Arabian
Gulf logistics.
Today the only countries that are big oil producers not under US control are Russia, Iran and Venezuela.
And the interesting fact is that those are the countries listed as US enemies.
1.1.4. 2008 South Ossetia
After another “color revolution” – Rose Revolution in Georgia – took place and Mikheil Saakashvili, the
protégé of American secret services, came into power, the USA invested more than $8 billion in different
“aid programs” for Georgia. This includes $4 billion on re-equipment and training for the Georgian army
according to NATO standards. Apart from this, Americans have provided their main ally in the Caucasus
region with operational access to intelligence information, both of civil and military importance. Georgia
turned de facto into the US financial protectorate, for more than 70% of its budget costs were covered
from Washington. Saakashvili himself had special attention of neoconservative activists in the George
Bush administration, those who supported the confrontation with Russia, such as vice-president Dick
Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She, by the way, visited Tbilisi just before the military
operation in 2008.
Not long before the tragedy in South Ossetia the Internet was used to whip up the tension around Russia.
There were lots of accusations against Kremlin that Russia had occupied a part of Georgian territory. The
regions labeled as “fallen under the Russian influence” were Abkhazia and South Ossetia. One should
keep in mind that these are former autonomous republics of Georgian SSR. After the destruction of the
USSR the republics decided not to stay under the rule of Tbilisi on the grounds of ethnic discrimination.
The reason for accusations was numerous provocations against Russian peacekeeping forces, both from
the side of Georgian military and border patrol personnel and the Georgian population of South Ossetia.
On the night of August 8, 2008, during the opening ceremony at Beijing Olympic Games, the Georgian
army, on the pretext of “restoring the Constitutional order in the conflict zone,” initiated an attack at
populated areas of South Ossetia, including Tskhinvali, along with deployment sites of Russian
peacekeeping forces. “Invasion forces” included 17 thousand people equipped with armored fighting
vehicles, tanks, artillery, and different types of missiles corresponding to NATO standards. All together
Georgian military forces had 29 thousand enlisted personnel. They were confronted by three thousand
Russian peacekeepers and a similar number of Ossetian military forces (equipped with just firearms). In
Tskhinvali, apart from 500 Russian peacekeepers there was located an Ossetian peacekeeping battalion
numbering 350 people with firearms, plus 200 people in city’s police forces and almost 100 people in
local self-defense formation.
These forces were able to hold Tskhinvali for about eight hours of constant combat, till the reinforcement
from Russia came through the Roki Tunnel. The plan of the Georgian government was to return the
territories it didn’t control with the help of military attacks at the region. But the plan was foiled. Within
several hours all runways suitable to land heavy military cargo aircrafts were blown up, and the Georgian
coast was blocked. Thus the Russian Air Force and Navy eliminated the risk of interference of US and its
allies in NATO in the conflict.
During the next three days 17 thousand Russian mobile defense troops exhausted the Georgian side, and
then changed over to simultaneous counterattack from Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The operation
resulted in the defeat of Georgian National Army, despite the fact that the military training had been
conducted by the American military experts, according to British “Financial Times”. After three days
since the beginning of the clash, on August 11, 2008 the counterattack was stopped at the Poti-Kutaisi-
Gori line. And the next day, on August 12, a ceasefire was called. Beginning August 14 the peace
negotiations between the official sides of the conflict – Georgia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Russia –
started. The negotiations were finished on August 16 with the signing of the plan for peaceful settlement
of the conflict. This plan practically confirmed the status quo before the Georgian aggression.
The financial support for the Saakashvili government kept coming from the US even after the so called
“War 08.08.08.” $3.25 billion from the USA, and $4.55 billion from the EU were allocated for the
recovery. It is also likely that “Russian-Georgian war” was a cover for «Lehman Brothers» bankruptcy
which was officially announced on September 15, 2008. After that the world was covered with the “first
wave” of the global financial crisis that cost the largest economies of the world more than $10 trillion.
1.1.5. 2010 - ? The Arab Spring
Back in the fall of 2007 during her diplomatic tour in the Middle East Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
made a sensational policy statement that “democracy is more important than stability”, and the level of a
country’s democratic freedom is defined not by how the institutions of economic and political democracy
are represented in this country, but by whether this country accepts the requirement to match the
American model of democracy. Back then such statement was taken with certain lack of understanding
and puzzlement, for the Republican administration of George Walker Bush could hardly expect to pass its
power to the next candidate from the GOP, and the US influence in the region, where everything was
controlled by its old allies, didn’t need the enforcement. Nevertheless, the stated policy was brought into
action by the Democratic administration of Barak Obama, for today both Republicans and Democrats are,
as a matter of fact, two fractions of the single “party of power”.
In December 2010 a street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi from the city of Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, set himself
on fire in a protest against iniquity of local administration blaming its members in breaking the Islamic
law norms. The next day mass demonstration supporting him took place all over Tunisia. In the beginning
of 2011 similar actions called “Arabian spring” took over the whole Greater Middle East: from Mauritania
in the West to Oman in the East. American politicians and military officials supported the development of
the “Arabian spring” providing the protesters with communication and organizational, humanitarian, and
financial aid.
In the case of Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrow in Libyan Jamahiriya (May-October 2011) it even got to the
direct interference of the USA and its allies in NATO (France, Great Britain and Italy). The policy that
was aimed at “suppression of Islam” (2001-2008) changed to the opposite “support Islam” position. In
many aspects due to the efforts from Washington the former terrorists ended up among “fighters for
freedom.” The only exception was the organizations that were claimed responsible for 9/11. The last “act
of retaliation” was the staging of Osama bin Laden’s murder in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011
which happened in the very fervor of “Arabian spring.” After violent “absolution from sins” radical Islam
was unofficially used by the US as an aide in Middle East coups.
The first field where these relations were tested became Libya (since 1986 - Great Socialist People's
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya). The country had been under the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi for more than
forty years. It is worthy to note that Libya is a former Italian colony that includes three historical regions:
Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan. The main oil fields (45 billion barrels, 2.9% of world reserves, 9th
place in the world) are located in Cyrenaica while the head of Jamahiriya was from Tripolitania.
“Limited” in their access to the incomes from oil and gas export Cyrenaica clans became the inner power
that confronted Gaddafi. They were supported by radical Islamists all over the world, as well as the US
and its European satellites.
Protests that started on February 15, 2011 in Benghazi (the capital of Cyrenaica) spread fast over all the
cities of the region. On February 17 the “Day of Wrath” which program was coordinated from Great
Britain took place. The next day activists seized the city of El Beida. The units of Libyan army defected to
the rebels almost immediately. And on February 20 world mass media shared later unconfirmed evidence
of peaceful protesters in Libya being shot from helicopters and armored cars. After that the sheikhs of
Cyrenaica called Gaddafi a “butcher”. By February 24 the whole territory of the province was seized by
the rebels. Among them there was Major General Abdul Fatah Younis, Libyan minister of interior;
Minister of Justice Mustafa Abdul Jalil; and Major General Suleiman Mahmoud, commander of the
Tobruk Military Region. After another two days the Minister of Justice became the head of selfproclaimed
“provisional government of Libya”.
The situation resembled Iraq in 2003 with only difference that clan disputes in Libya were strongly
marked. Therefore Muammar Gaddafi enjoyed much more profound and broad support than Saddam
Hussein.
Rebels spent almost a month to advance to Benghazi while the national army soldiers were counter
attacking. When Gaddafi managed to over-balance his opponents, the USA found excuse to intervene.
On the night of March 17, 2011 the United Nations Security Council adopted an infamous resolution
#1973 at the US request. Document rules determined air-exclusion zone over Libya in order to “reduce
possible casualties among civilians in case of air strikes against rebels”. The resolution was used by the
US and its allies to conduct mass bombings and missile attacks at Libyan military and civilian
infrastructure objects.
In March almost the entire Libyan air defense system was destroyed by 114 Tomahawk missiles.
According to Robert Gates, the United States Secretary of Defense, the creation of air-exclusion zone
starts with the annihilation of the opponent’s air defense system. And only then can we worry no more our
guys would be shot down. By the end of the month Libyan midair was completely dominated by the West.
Hereupon their warplanes took on Muammar Gaddafi’s ground equipment extermination. Residential
areas of Tripoli and other cities out of rebels’ control where government forces could have taken cover
were shelled as well. Americans faced no serious counteracting, though such practice went beyond the UN
resolution. In the meantime radical Wahhabi terrorists from all over the world arrived to Cyrenaica. At
that point they constituted rebels’ fundamental force, conducting airstrikes at military facilities.
In spite of this, forces of Arab Jamahiriya kept resisting for almost half a year till Muammar Gaddafi was
killed and his hometown Sirte was captured on October, 20.
The following step of the Arab Spring was sanctions against Syria initiated by oil monarchies of the
Arabian Gulf. Syrian membership in the League of Arab States was terminated, too. Situation in Syria
came to the fore and stayed vital for two years.
Unlike Iraq and Libya, Syria is not rich in oil, but it is located just between oil field of Iran and Iraq on
one side and Mediterranean Sea, a short cut to Europe, on the other. Syria traditionally sustains good
relations with Iran, because alawites who have reigned under the guise of Baas since 1963, are closer to
Shia Islam in contrast than to Sunni. The latter even doubt whether alawites belong to Islam.
Between 2011 and 2014 the USA and their allies supported armed hostilities of Syrian opposition
providing weapons, equipment, communications tools as well as financial and political aid.
On June 3, 2014 after the reelection of Bashar al-Assad 90% of Syrian territories with dominant Sunni
population defected to ISIS backed by the American secret services. ISIS managed to relegate Syrian
Liberation Army, al-Nusra front and other Islamic armed gangs.
Nonetheless, the Syrian conflict turned out to be the first American geostrategic defeat over the last 20
years. Aggregate power of the US and its allies turned out to be not enough to justify the claims for world
domination.
It is worth mentioning that the list of American acts of aggression lacks, for example, 2002 military coup
in Venezuela against President Hugo Chávez; Haiti intervention in 2004; numerous air intrusions into
China conducted by American scout aircrafts; stirring of intrastate and international conflicts all over the
world.
In the beginning of the XX century the USA realized the necessity not only to fight enemies on the
battlefield but also in the opponents’ minds. In 1922 Walter Lippmann, an American writer, journalist and
pundit, introduced the concept of public opinion shaping, based on three postulates:
1. A man imagines the world first and only then sees it.
2. The reality is too wide, complex and changeable for general public to become acquainted with
it.
3. A man perceives the world as a simplified model made up of stereotypes. What you need to do
is to replace these stereotypes with appropriate ones. Lippmann asserted it is the mass media
that meets these challenges in the best way possible.
Even at that time the author believed putting any kind of information in people’s heads with the help of
newspapers is a piece of cake. This moment is can be seen as the genesis of informational wars.
1.1.6. Color Revolutions
Color revolution is a term meant to define massive nonviolent protests. CIS, Eastern European states and
Arab countries are implied when we refer to color revolutions. Active youth political movements, massive
involvement, pickets and non-cooperation actions all can be considered to be a hallmark of this sort of
protests. Usually the result of public discontent is regime change. It is essential that events result in as few
victims as possible or no victims at all. To support this statement participants come to the streets with no
guns but wearing an idiosyncratic symbol, which unites the adherents.
1.1.7. 1989 The Velvet (non violent) revolution in Czechoslovakia
It is generally thought that nonviolent coup in Czechoslovakia became the beginning of color revolutions.
It also created the main principles:
• Mass student demonstration initiated the revolution (active involvement of youth political
movements);
• Creative intellectuals joined student demonstrations;
• Later on demonstrations developed into nationwide strike demanding abolition of one-party
system. Massive civilian protests and non-cooperation actions drew the attention.
Shutdown of the Cabinet, the repeal of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia’s leading role from the
Constitution and creation of non-communist government were among the announced demands. However,
Czechoslovakian revolution cannot be considered a color revolution in the truest sense of the word, at
least, because a number of key principles were not included. It is fair to say that basing on these
demonstrations both methodology and main principles of the following protests were developed.
1.1.8. 2003 The Rose Revolution in Georgia
14 years later the model of color revolution, based on the principles of the Velvet Revolution, was created.
For the first time ever it was tested to full extent in Georgia where the method of mass protests was widely
used.
The reaction of the opposition to illegitimate parliament elections was capturing the governmental
building. Activists were carrying roses in their hands, which actually gave the name to the revolution.
Long before the protest an organization sponsored from the outside and called “National Movement” was
created. 20 000 members were taught about the methods and technologies of coup d’état.
According to color revolution rules, this one was nonviolent as well. Eduard Shevardnadze was removed
from power through the blockage of governmental buildings. Before the events some kind of ground work
to create certain public opinion was conducted. In this case activists undertook a series of one-man
pickets, unclothing actions, hunger-strikes, nonviolent stalking and demonstrative funerals of prominent
media persons who belonged to the opposition. Besides these means of drawing attention an emphasis was
put on distribution of ideologically tinged leaflets, posters and other merchandise like baseball hats, Tshirts
and flags. Naturally, all of these “bonuses” were extended for free.
Washington’s acknowledgement of the illegitimate parliament elections played a major role in
opposition’s victory. Weighty opinion from abroad made the way for thousands Georgians.
1.1.9. 2004 The Orange Revolution in Ukraine
Shortly before the 2004 presidential elections hiding the fact that the West had its own plans for
candidates and prepared several scenarios for further events became meaningless.
As a matter of fact, huge funds were allocated to hold the events. Though such investments were called
financial aid to the youth movement “Pora”. The founders were not shy to announce that the strategy and
the plan of the campaign were structured the same way as the successful networks in Slovak Republic,
Serbia and Georgia. Activists and leaders were advised to attract apolitical citizens to pro-Western and
democratic course. American analysts, who visited Kiev quite often, were meant to control the activity of
such enterprises.
Votes given to Viktor Yushchenko, a Western protégé and Europe-oriented candidate, represented the
desire of active part of the society to visit Europe without restrictions.
• The following are the methods of ideological influence used during the Orange Revolution:
• Exclusive access to mass media and, as a result, an information field full with the advantageous
to the West materials. This includes positive image for specified candidate, political wrangling
with carefully chosen participants and blackening of outsiders.
• The use of unique marking (for “friend or foe” distinction purposes). For example, orange hand
ribbons or clothes of the same color. The desire to decorate public places and objects with
orange attributes was socially approved, as well.
• Tent camps in proximity to government buildings (permanent rally). Encampment became a
state within a state with its own laws and hierarchy. Remarkable that it was not easy to join the
protesters. Access was granted to candidates only after thorough preparations, conversations
and checks. Large-scale involvement and immensity of the event got public attention and
affected people’s consciousness as an appeal to join the majority.
• The participation of international experts in public addresses and analytics. They were
empowered to interpret the events in the necessary sense (including oppositional).
1.1.10. 2005 The Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan
The international observers’ dissatisfaction with the parliamentary elections in the country led to a
revolution (elections are most frequently chosen as the impetus for the demonstrations of mass
discontent). After being unable to withstand the onslaught of the opposition, former Kyrgyz president
Askar Akayev resigned leaving the power in the hands of not a single but several groups. It is not
surprising that immediately after the overthrow of the head of state advocates of different political parties
organized waves of protest and discontent.
Organizers of protests were able to draw attention and attract the audience due to “plainclothesmen”
shouting out loud slogans. They were walking with banners and flags along the streets of the capital.
New government agencies together with active calls for actions and publicity of the activities helped the
opposition. These agencies were positioned as an alternative to the “illegitimate government” of those
days.
Normally the opposition used the distinctive brand, a flower coupled with a non-aggressive color of
clothing and symbols.
Revolution in Kyrgyzstan was different from similar scenarios by the fact that precisely structured scheme
of work with the masses was not used during the organization of this revolution. Besides, its supporters
didn’t have clear understanding of what the final result would be, mostly because of the fact that
opposition leaders were scattered and every single one of them had his personal intentions. On top of that,
this revolution was not supposed to end with the seizure of power; at least, no one expected so imminent
resignation of the former president. The words of Askar Akayev opponent, Kurmanbek Bakiyev prove
once again that no one intended to oust Akayev from power, at least, not in such a short period: “Kyrgyz
opposition did not expect such a quick power shift.”
1.2. The History of Information Wars
History of informational wars dates back to ancient times. There are references to the first attempts of
informational influence against the enemy in the times of Ancient Greece. For example, during the war
with the Persians Themistocles was calling to cut appeals on the stones for the Ionians to join Athenians or
not to fight against them. Stepan Razin enticed freedom lovers posing himself as renovator of justice.
During the Crimean war (1853-1856), immediately after the Sinop battle all English newspapers reported
that the Russian soldiers finished off drowning wounded Turks.
For the first time the issue of shaping the public opinion through the press was approached seriously
during the First World War. It started in England, where the Bureau of Military Propaganda was
established under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1914 (later it became the Office of the Chief of
Military Information which was later reorganized into the Ministry of Information). The department was
responsible for carrying out propaganda among soldiers and foreign nationals. In August 1915 in France
the Department of Military Propaganda was established under the 2nd Division of the General Staff of the
Ministry of Defense. Its aim was to influence the enemy through the leaflets. Each combat unit of the
French army had an aircraft at its disposal, it was used to drop printed materials from the board. In 1917
the United States got involved into the psychological warfare after the creation of a fully-featured
psychological section. In the classrooms people were taught informational war techniques using the
printed propaganda.
Military political information was distributed mainly through different media: brochures, postcards, flyers,
posters and there were propaganda materials even in the letters of prisoners of war.
The first series of leaflets during the First World War were the letters from German prisoners of war in
British camps to their relatives. Methods of informational confrontation used by Americans were
pragmatic: the topic of hunger in the German army was actively exploited. The leaflet, made in the shape
of German field postcard said:
“Pick up this card; write the address of your family on it. If you are captured by Americans, give this card
to the first officer, who interrogates you. He is obliged to send it to your family." This was followed by
text: “I am a captive, I am slightly (badly) wounded (not wounded). Do not worry about me. The war is
over for me. They feed us well: beef, white bread, potatoes, beans and peas, cream, coffee, milk, oil,
tobacco etc. (cross out as applicable)”.
The methods of informational confrontation were treated with special attention in the Third Reich. Reich’s
Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was founded and Joseph Goebbels was appointed as its
chief. German Minister of Propaganda laid the foundation for the systematic approaches in the work with
information. Thus, by the beginning of the Second World War, Germany was well prepared ideologically
and was actively working not only with conscience of German soldiers, but also with the psychology of
the enemy.
The main forms of informational confrontation were printed materials and radio propaganda. Verbal and
visual propaganda were presented at a lesser extent.
But people worked with the methods of shaping the public opinion not only in Germany. For comparison:
in the USSR there was the Bureau of Military and Political Propaganda, in the UK - The Executive
Committee of the Political War, in the United States - Office of War Information.
Stove piping for the occupied territories of the Soviet Union is a good example of such activity. German
soldiers took pictures against the background of the alleged Leningrad sculpture “Horse Tamers”, which is
located on the Anichkov Bridge. They disseminated information about the capture of the city. The lie was
that those sculptures were copies which Nicholas I presented to the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV
before the war time. The sculptures adorned the main gates of the royal palace in Berlin.
1.2.1. The Cold War as an example of information war
The Cold War was the ideological confrontation between 1947 and 1991. It became the first global
informational confrontation. Two sides were involved: the military political block of NATO (North
Atlantic Treaty Organization) and the Warsaw Treaty Organization (Warsaw Pact). The main forms of
informational confrontation were TV, printed and radio propaganda. Verbal and visual propaganda were
presented at a lesser extent.
It was in the early 80s when the term "informational war" started to be used regularly in military manuals.
The US and the USSR were the main warring parties. As the Soviet Union was building up its military
potential, the US was actively developing the means of informational war. As a result, winning the
informational confrontation Americans have secured the victory in the Cold War. Subsequently, it became
one of the factors that led to the collapse of the USSR.
1.2.2. Iraq
Anti Iraq operation accomplished by the American troops included informational attacks as well. In
addition to the main objectives of the United States to achieve dominance in the region, to destroy the
information and technical facilities and to discredit Saddam Hussein, the intention of the US government
was to shape a positive public opinion about the war and the aggression against Iraq. In fact, as experts
note, the conflict was provoked and aimed not at disarming Iraq, but rather to undermine the morale of the
local population.
Telecommunication facilities and the Iraqi Media were exposed to the US intelligence which was
coordinated by Ari Fisher, a spokesman for the White House. He held briefings where journalists were
told about losses of the Iraqi army and the success of the national army.
In order to justify the introduction of troops during the Gulf War, Americans used references to already
existing mythological ideas. If in case of war with Japan the enemy could be easily described as “yellow
devil”, in case of that war it was impossible to set similar racial difference, for both warring parties had
representatives of Arab nationality. That is why they introduced the term “countries of the potential
democracy” to refer to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The absurdity of such reference is quite clear, but it
allowed to involve mythology, according to which the United States is the defender of democracy in the
whole world.
Information from the conflict zone was processed and conveyed to the public by the private PR-agency
"The Rendon Group". The aim of organization’s activities was to misinform representatives of the foreign
media. A good example of “The Rendon Group” activities is the "Operation Desert Storm". The goal of
the informational campaign was to cover only one aspect of the military operations. The journalist
community was actively discussing the invasion of American soldiers from the sea and hushed up on
purpose the information about landing in the desert. These data were blocked and were not reported in the
media. The press was constantly reporting about required landing of the Marines, trainings of the Marine
Amphibious Unit, mine lifting of anti airborne obstacles, and the suppression of the fire positions on the
coast by the aviation. As a result, the Iraqi army started to prepare for that kind of invasion and failed to
reflect the actual attack.
It was initially planned to completely destroy the governmental information infrastructure, but tasks were
changed in the process, and the West decided to use it for its own purposes. If the information was not
distributed, it was blocked. And if there was not a single briefing for a long time, and journalists were
deprived from the main source of information, then they had to literally make it up on their own. The
technique of the metered flow of information emerged in such circumstances. If the oppositional
information appeared on the TV, then the States immediately denied it.
CNN and BBC had exclusive rights to news coverage that allowed these channels to create a “monopoly
for truth” about the events in Iraq.
Independent sources, such as Al-Jazeera, tried to neutralize. The Coalition qualified the channel as a
mouthpiece of the Iraqi propaganda. But in the end, Iraq launched the opposing active program for the US
policy of disinformation. As a result, America has lost the informational war.
1.2.3. Chechnya
Chechen conflicts have become an example of informational war when a small group of people achieves a
result through the effective use of informational resources.
The insurgents won the informational war during the first Chechen conflict. It seems that it would have
been impossible if the government hadn’t made the following mistakes:
- Any representative of the journalist community was able to communicate directly with the
terrorists who were giving the information destabilizing the ambience in the country.
- There was no special representative of the government or military who could interact with the
media. As a result it led to the lack of consistent and structured information and consequently to
the inability to regulate the crisis via mass media.
- The interaction with organizations and activists who carried out human rights activities was not
established. Many of them began to take too big responsibility and started to openly support
mercenaries.
1.2.4. South Ossetia
The media coverage of the South Ossetia armed conflict had been being prepared by the world
intelligence agencies and journalistic community for a long time before the tragic events in the region took
place. The conflict became a global confrontation between the Russian and Western media. Discussions
took place in the Internet as well: blogs, forums and even attacks on official governmental websites.
Within the year preceding the South Ossetia war the US and European mass media were conducting a
large informational operation which allowed the global media system to influence the informational flows
and sources. First of all, they launched a campaign to create aggression halo around Russia: a scandal with
allegedly Russian missile intercepted at the border; downed drone with prohibited goods detained by
peacekeepers. All these precedents were informational preparation to form the negative image. It was used
for further accusations against Moscow in the attack on Georgia.
The president of the “innocent” country Mikheil Saakashvili also supported the informational attacks
against Russia. He was publicly accusing Russia of aggression and referring to NATO fighters as
peacekeepers.
Georgia signed a contract with a Belgian PR-agency. During the conflict the PR-agents were sending emails
to the mainstream media. These e-mails contained the information from the conflict zone which was
often exaggerated. For example, there was a report about the alleged intensive bombing of Tbilisi or about
town of Gori being seized by Russian troops. Many of the world’s media broadcast such messages without
independent verification. The Times reported: “If the Georgian army were as aggressive as the PR
campaign of the country's authorities, then the outcome of the South Ossetia war could have been
absolutely different.”
Another method of the war was the opening of a center in the Georgian city of Gori where only Georgian
and foreign journalists were served. At the same time Russian media and websites were blocked.
Concurrently teleconferences with Europe and the United States were held where the “true” arguments of
foreign experts and analysts were broadcast in English. At the same time Western journalists used such
methods of informational confrontation as falsifications, forgeries and prevention of public expression of
alternative opinions. For example, photos where Georgian “Grad” was striking the South Ossetia
Tskhinvali were presented as the Georgian town of Gori which had suffered from the hands of Russian
soldiers. At the same time all attempts to reveal the real situation in the war zone were prevented. For
example, the interview of two Ossetian women on the American Fox channel. When mother and daughter
who had managed to escape from the conflict zone said on the air that the aggressors were Georgian
soldiers and Russian fighters were peacekeepers, the broadcast was interrupted immediately in order not
to allow the guests of the studio to finish the phrase. That fragment was posted on the web by viewers and
it was blocked and deleted everywhere.
Generally, there was the war of ideas in the Internet as well. On the one hand, the program called “Team
for external digital contacts” was launched. It was designed to work against anti-American disinformation
on the internet. It is interesting that this program was initiated by Karen Hughes who was a proxy of the
former president George W. Bush. People working on behalf of this organization "surf the Internet, log in
chat rooms, visit popular websites and in some cases blogs, and talk about American politics, correct
mistakes, if they occur, and send links to people to the ‘correct’ documents. They do it in Arabic, Farsi
and Urdu. "
The Russian side on behalf of the youth movement "Nashi", "Young Russia", "Young Guard", "New
People" and "Locals" urged to launch an informational war against the regime of President Mikheil
Saakashvili on all Internet portals and resources. In turn, Georgians blocked access to all websites in the
.ru domain, and also limited broadcasts of Russian TV channels. Such measures were undertaken in the
period from August 9 to October 21, 2008.
1.2.5. The Arab Spring
A series of Middle Eastern revolutions in the end of 2010 induced and coordinated largely by various
Internet resources such as Facebook and Twitter. Presumably, the events were provoked by the US.
Arab Spring is a wave of protests, demonstrations and coup d'états that embraced the Arab world in the
XXI century.
The first revolution happened in Tunisia in January, 2010. As a result, the sitting president was forced to
flee to Saudi Arabia. Afterwards other Arab countries successively faced the following developments:
coup d'états in Egypt and Yemen, civil wars in Libya (caused government’s dissolution) and Syria (still
ongoing); civil uprising in Bahrain; massive protests in Algiers, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco and Oman, and
minor protests in Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Djibouti and Western Sahara.
Revolution in Egypt as well as wars in Libya and Syria became the most resonant ones. The use of social
networks such as Facebook and Twitter could be considered the hallmark of the Arab Spring protests. A
number of analytics and pundits, say Professor Clay Shirky of New York University, believe that social
media development was the main reason for the events. We have to admit, however, that it was just one of
the instruments, quite effective one though. The main reason is internal authoritarian conjuncture of Arab
countries.
Social networks played a role of transmitters at times of political storm. In most cases, media were under
heavy censorship while social networks allowed public access to any kind of information, including
oppositional. More than that, mass actions were coordinated via social networks. People shared the
instructions regarding time and place of the upcoming rally using Facebook and Twitter, reposting
information to their profile pages and creating groups. Governments were unable to control the dataflow
due to the US-based moderation. The role of this state in the revolutions should not be underestimated,
too. American specialists taught the activists about the methods of supporting coups via social network.
The effectiveness of social networks can be proven by the fact that early 2000’s Color revolutions in CIS
were separated in months, yet only a couple of weeks passed between Tunisia president Ben Ali’s
overthrow and Hosni Mubarak’s deposition.
1.2.6. Ukraine: Euromaidan
Ukrainian revolution. Euromaidan is a series of events engineered and coordinated in many aspects via
social networks and Internet media (e. g. Hromads’ke TB). Western support of the crisis, including
Internet sphere, is reliably known. The events led to informational war between Russian and Ukrainian
forces, and at a lesser extent between Russia and the West. As the conflict developed the events have
crossed national borders and evolved into media war between several nations, including Russia, EU and
the USA.
The most intensive confrontation takes place in different segments of the Internet, as well as on television.
It can be characterized by generous amount of stove-piping.
For the purposes of overthrowing the current government the scheme that had proved itself in Arab
countries was used: a small but active group of people, backed by the West, overthrows the government
with the help of force and aggression.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, initially responsible for the coercive intervention, failed his task, so Ukraine got Color
revolution instead of Arab spring. The scenario, however, didn’t work out because it was simply
inappropriate to demand the election results revision (as usual), as well as advocate premature shutdown
of the government.
When the organizers saw that the protests had no effect, the stake was placed at nationalist rhetoric. An
informational campaign against artificially created national minority inhabiting the North-Eastern part of
the country was launched. Civil war outbreak was a piece of cake due to predominant regional differences
between the “minority” and the rest of the country.
Chapter 2. Work Concept
1. Individualists
If you are an individualist, you need to focus on working with one site. It should be the main one for you.
It is not necessary to concentrate your efforts at some fictional character. Focus on the promotion of a
personal brand. You should pay particular attention to working with the leaders of public opinion. It
would be better to concentrate at communicating with them and establishing a personal contact, moreover,
ask them to support (to spread) a vital topic. It does not matter how you will do it, even if the leaders of
public opinion just repost your material. This is also an example of successful work. Any platform will be
suitable for you except the mass media.
Your main goal is to become a leader of public opinion.
2. Mini groups
A mini group is a group from 2 to 10 people. Distance work will be the most effective. To do this you
need some constant communication channels such as phone, messenger or social network. There should
also be a person who is responsible for coordinating the group. The group could be divided into several
parts depending on the number of people. It is necessary to maintain round the clock work.
A mini group may work on several sites, but not more than 3. It should be sites that are better integrated
with each other, such as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. This can be beneficial to arrange cross-posting
and thus reduce the time spent on one site.
The main goal of a mini group is to create a complete web project.
3. Agency of the information warfare against the USA
The full description of this scheme of work is included in the manual. The Agency has certain tasks of
creating successful projects on each site. The goal is the formation of public opinion and the promotion of
relevant topics in the segment.
Chapter 3: Think Tank
Fundamental purpose is creating a database containing the information about relevant problems and
specific questions of internal and external governmental policy for further analysis. The results of the
analysis are formulated into terms that define the activity areas of the project.
The structure of Think Tank includes two functional groups:
- Analytical group
- Monitoring group
These groups perform the following tasks:
3.2. Analytics
Minimal staff required – 5 employees. The result of the analyst’s job should be an informative, explicit
position about current events in the world. The activity areas of the project are formulated in accordance
with this position. The choice of the analyzed information is made according to the trends in world
politics. The focus is on the points of maximum tension.
Main tasks
1). The analysis of the information field content in order to identify key trends, as well as the format of the
news feed. Content analysis allows to study the global and regional agenda. This analysis allows us to
choose the right tactics for the news coverage.
2). Creating a certain position according to the discovered relevant events. If the information about Russia
is presented negatively, the analyst must provide counter arguments. If the news is positive, there is a
reason to widespread and develop the idea. In other cases it is necessary to focus on negative information
activities of Russia’s enemies. Let us consider the example of the US policy. The main topics are:
- the US foreign policy. Review of military campaigns, military bases location, lack of interest in
the peaceful solving of international problems, ignoring the international law, an assault against the
rights and freedoms of foreign citizens, the policy of obstruction the US interests to other countries.
Creating a tension in the international diplomatic community. Financial investments in the military
campaigns of foreign states. Social discontent with US foreign policy. Violation of human rights,
elimination of civilians, creating coups, creating "controlled chaos", in order to strengthen its own
global hegemony.
- the US internal political issues. The clan system, the struggle of the two main political parties.
Policy of the incumbent president and his confrontation with Congress. Election campaigns, the
inefficiency of the present voting system. Failures of the current Administration, the President and
the entire establishment as a whole.
- the US economical problems. The economic recession: economic slowdown, decline in
production, companies and jobs moving to offshore areas and abroad. National debt growth, both
internal and external: causes and consequences. US budget deficit: the inefficient budget policy,
budget embezzlement, corruption and unnecessary military spendings. Bureaucratic barriers and
problems of households, the pressure on citizens from the federal and state government and the
gaps of tax system.
- state-society relations in the US. Features of development and national specifics of social
programs in the USA, the analysis of the functioning and objectives of social programs in the
United States, the analysis of social programs in the US and evaluation of their effectiveness,
consideration of the effect of changing the structure of the social sphere on American society,
assessment of the prospects and risks of American social system. Prediction of the situation in the
social sphere based on the analysis of existing programs.
- human relations in society. Organization of American society and its impact on the modern
condition. Crimes\offences and their effect on internal social processes. Analysis of the relationship
of American society and its public representatives. Positive and negative experience. Detailed
consideration of public organizations in the United States, their ideology and methods to achieve
their goals.
Based on these trends, analysts learn more narrow, as well as indirectly related additional topics. All the
material is presented in analytical reviews that contain processed and conveniently laid out information.
Part of review is actually an instruction on how to use the material properly and correctly. Analysts work
through and study all the sources, databases and information events provided by Monitoring group.
Analysts provide basic ideas to reflect the desired position on necessary topics. Analysts evaluate potential
of news agenda to organize a common agenda for all the copywriters.
3.1. Monitoring
Minimal staff required – 2 employees. The main purpose is collection and systematization of the news.
Main tasks
1). Providing the project with regular actual news info. As a rule, information is presented as a list of news
items divided by subjects and news sources.
2). Searching for regular and the most important news sources for copywriters to work with. Further
information is given to analysts who choose the target audience, political orientation, etc.
3). Searching for information required by analysts:
- searching for the Internet sites with useful content;
- scanning the necessary statistics;
- searching for appropriate precedents in the past.
3.3. Educational unit
Minimal staff required – 2 employees. Main responsibility of the division is upgrading the skills of the
staff through lectures, performing practical tasks and control over the educational process and results.
Main tasks
1). Providing employees with the necessary information which coincides in the topical areas, and
revealing the regional political, cultural, historical realities. It is also possible to organize training sessions,
revealing the linguistic features of different social and regional groups. Developing training course that
includes lectures, tests, meetings with the necessary experts, as well as creating interactive lessons.
Lectures are usually provided as presentations that explain social mechanisms functioning. The control
over the studied information in the form of tests that allow to monitor the common level and the
weaknesses of employees.
2). Staff training in the form of interactive conversations that help to define and measure the reaction amid
the American public. Practical assignments are given during trainings so that copywriters complete them
in different time. Everything depends on the subject of the task.
Educational work is necessary not only to improve the employees’ competence level, but also to create
additional motivation. A clear understanding of ideas and global challenges of the project not only helps
to perform the required amount of work, but develops a sincere interest that allows to achieve the best
results.
Chapter 4. The areas of work
4.1. Working with the mass media and political forums of the USA
4.1.1. General description of the department
There are more than 50 main US news sources, and about 10 American political forums with high
traffic. All sites are divided by the topics and have their own political position and direction of the
discussions. The goal is to promote news events on the news resources of the United States and in political
forums.
Working with news sources means commenting current news on information portals. Working with
political forums means creating discussions. And the difference between forums and news sources is that
on news sources all news is created by editors and on forums – by average users. Topics of forum can be
very different, including all spheres of life, and are determined by the owners of the forum or its
administration, or by users. Forums can have specific specialization (e.g., about international politics),
narrow specialization (about politics of one country) or no specialization.
4.1.2. General audience. Sites
The number of Internet users in the United States is 245,203,319(2013 stats) and many of them are
interested in politics. The largest US web-resource CNN.com is ranked in the top 100 most visited
Internet sites in the world (according to Alexa Top 500 rated Global Sites). And the audience of
CNN.com includes 71% of Americans. This fact gives a reason to believe that working with US
news sources gives the highest possible coverage of potential online audience. Each news resource
has its own political views, the official position and Alexa rating.
Forums cover a narrower audience of citizens. Suitable forums are those with attendance ranging from
15.000 up to half a million real users.
4.1.3. Work options
Commenting articles by writing comments with necessary topics. Information fields should be filled with
appropriate content(comments).
Posting relevant topics on political forums. News may be presented in the form of text or graphic content.
Relevant topics should be selected according to the characteristics of the forum and "views" of user
account.
1.1 To define the preferences of a certain web resource it is necessary to analyze the content of the website.
For example: The Washington Times position itself as an “independent” media, but in fact this is one of
the most famous conservative newspapers in USA with the editorial office in Washington D.C. During the
elections they support liberal party and the current president Barack Obama is represented negatively. As
we all know, liberals have always opposed Russia as an aggressive government and they reflect this in
their opinion in the news about the Russian Federation. Logically, at this news portal it is necessary to
develop a strategy that does not contradict the ideas of the Liberal Party, and point out the problems of the
party. The same principles should be used to work with political resources. We should also take into the
consideration the specifics of the state the resource belongs to, for various economic and social factors can
influence the created content.
1.2 Socialization of a web-personality can be carried out in different directions. While creating
the methods of socialization, it is necessary to consider all social groups. Significant attention should be
placed at the biggest groups of participants of the current conflict (events), for the audience often trusts the
direct participants of events.
Preparation stage:
Forming a list of news sources to comment;
Forming a list of political forums to comment;
Structure analysis of a resource:
Identifying opportunities for commenting and linking to social networks (Facebook,
Twitter, AOl, Yahoo !, Google+, Linkedin, independent registration);
Identifying opportunities for response analysis in political forums (likes, replies, views);
Identifying the necessity of purchasing a "subscription" to news resource for commenting;
Analysis of the news sources
Analysis of political forums
Forming a strategy for working with news sources and political forums on the basis of the obtained data.
4.1.4. Requirements for the content
The audience forming the content of certain focus on the resources is very huge. In order to promote
strategically important content we should follow previously conducted analysis of news resources.
Comments and posts are formed on the basis of the best comments and posts of other users because this
shows the most popular topics and trends among other users.
Comments and posts can be divided into 5 types:
The argument (using facts and analytical information). From 200 to 600 characters;
Aggression / criticism (negative reflection of the situation, both using the facts and talking
from the point of view of an average person who does not have enough knowledge of world history).
From 200 to 600 characters;
Humor (positive and humorous point of view). From 150 to 300 characters;
Defamation through support (positive opinion indicating negative sides of the discussed
topics). From 150 to 600 characters;
From a representative (opinion based on personal experience of a person). From 100 to 600
characters.
Note: each type requires a separate account which acts in accordance with the history of the socialization
for the whole period of the account existence.
General requirements for a comment/post
Time of posting. Depends on the time the article was published and the presence of other
users on a news portal. In the US there are 50 states and eight time zones, so it is important to know about
which state each news resource belongs to;
Compliance with topics. Comments should reflect the topic of the article or of the topic of
the trend to provoke interest among other users;
Size. The number of characters in the comment should match the type of a post. Too big and
subtle comments are not perceived by readers;
Literacy. Posting a comment in a foreign language it is important to take into account the
stylistic features of foreign language and be clear to a user;
Relevance. Comments are distributed under the articles that were published not earlier than
yesterday. The more relevant the article is, the more relevant the comments are and the higher the
response is. Posts are formed on the basis of relevant and hot topics among other users.
4.1.5. Requirements for the employees
Basic requirements for a commentator:
English language knowledge at a level no lower than Upper-Intermediate;
General knowledge of the world history;
Understanding of the political situation in the world;
Knowledge of basic computer programs;
Predisposition to team work;
Creativity;
Stress resistance;
4.1.6. Performance assessment. Accountability
Among the evaluated factors: the quality of the content, quantity indicators of the reaction, daily and
monthly rates for each employee based on reaction on certain news sources.
Quantitative indicators include:
number of likes;
number of responses;
number of views (for political forums).
Like is a reflection of the positive response to the commentator’s content and an indicator of user
involvement.
Answer reflects the relevance of the given subject to the audience and is an indicator of user involvement.
View reflects the coverage of real users
Comments with the biggest number of "likes" and "answers" or "views" are in the top of the most
successful comments, which increases the reaction rate and allows to enter the discussions with the largest
number of other users.
4.1.7. Security issues
There is a number of risks connected with working on the resources such as:
Blocking of an account due to the use of profanity or confrontation with the resource topics,
without an opportunity to recover the account
Blocking of an account due to aggressive or critical content, without an opportunity to
recover the account;
Blocking of IP address, without the opportunity of further work with the blocked IP address.
4.2. Working in Tumblr
4.2.1. General description of the department
The work of the department is conducted in Tumblr, a social network which is one of the most popular
social networks in the world.
Tumblr is a micro blogging service which includes a lot of pictures, articles, videos, and gif-images on
different subjects and allows users to publish posts in their blogs.
The general strategy of the department: the promotion of certain topics which are determined by the
project manager and department analysts in Tumblr.
Topics are promoted by graphical and textual presentation of information in the form of thematic images
(photos, infographics) with concise captions and posts (articles).
4.2.2. General audience. Sites
The number of users in Tumblr is determined by the number of created blogs. The number of blogs is
estimated at 220 million on 01.23.2015. The main audience is US residents at the age of 10 to 45 years.
4.2.3. Work options
The primary direction of work is concentration on creating your own blog. Other blogs are secondary
direction, and they are used in the socialization process (details in paragraph 5).
1.1 Personal blog
For the majority of users Tumblr is not just a platform for publications in a blog, but also a news portal.
Personal blogs give an opportunity to constantly publish thematic content and saturate the "loyal"
audience with it.
Blog readers can see all the publications in their news feed. This is direct impact which forms perception
of further events.
The work begins when you start a blog which requires specific goals and objectives.
One of the most important goals is the formation of the target audience (blog readers) who are loyal to the
published content.
The global objective is to influence public opinion in a particular country / region / city.
The scale of audiences varies depending on the selected area.
4.2.4. Requirements for the content
There is a huge competition among blogs in Tumblr. To attract audience and distribute thematic content it
is necessary to clearly define the characteristics and specifics of the social network.
Tumblr is focused on the publication of information in a graphic format. Consequently, it is necessary to
select / create politically directed images / photo / infographics.
The options for the integration of political content into personal blog:
Creating a political blog (only political content);
Creating a blog with general focus where political content is just a part of the published material;
Creating an entertaining blog where political focus of the project is expressed in humorous
material;
Creating a blog of a certain person that can be interesting for certain audience, regardless the
contents of the publications.
It necessary to conduct a thorough analysis before creating a blog:
- To determine the competitors among the bloggers who publish content with similar topics;
- To determine the potential audience of the blog;
- To determine the name of the blog (it’s necessary to reflect the concept of the blog most implicitly);
- To develop unique specifics of the blog (style, presentation of the content).
Parameters of a successful post
In Tumblr all posts are divided into 6 types:
Text post;
Photo-post;
Quote;
Link;
Audio;
Video.
Please note the following suggestions in order to successfully publish all kinds of posts:
1. Publication of the content should be made in the proper to the target audience time;
2. It is necessary to create only unique content for publications;
3. It is necessary to monitor the competitive blogs. Taking into account their successful actions and
adapt them for your blog.
It is necessary to strictly follow the structure of the post:
The title of the post (catchy and most concise);
The main part;
Conclusion;
The key hashtags that are most relevant in Tumblr.
4.2.5. Requirements for the employees
Basic requirements for bloggers who work in Tumblr:
English language competence at upper intermediate level;
Writing experience in English / experience with native speakers;
Understanding of current trends in social networks;
Ability to work with basic computer software (Word, Excel, etc.);
High learning ability;
Stress resistance;
Basic skills in Photoshop and other graphic editors;
Adaptation of the material from the Department of analysts to the format existing in the blog and to
the general format of Tumblr;
Writing unique content or borrowing already existing content appropriate for the blog;
Basic SMM skills for blog promotion and account socialization.
The basic account socialization includes:
- The personalization of the blog (avatar and theme selection);
- Filling in the blog information (catchy brief description);
- Adding users as "readers" on a regular basis;
- Creating posts with both specific and abstract topics on a regular basis (depending on the blog concept);
- Recognize the most active users with likes on a regular basis.
4.2.6. Performance assessment. Accountability
Accountability depends on the goals and objectives completely. It is necessary to balance quantitative and
qualitative aspects of the work.
Quantitative numbers are provided in the form of diagrams. The numbers should grow during the period
of task completion.
Quantitative numbers show:
- The number of posts made by the employees of the department;
- The amount of total reaction to their work;
- The number of readers.
It is also convenient to report the qualitative numbers in the form of diagrams.
Qualitative numbers include:
- General audience;
- User engagement;
- The response to the content of the blogs in the form of personal messages;
4.2.7. Security issues
Risks arising during the work in Tumblr:
The blocking of the blog for automatic posting to the page and, as a consequence, the similarity
with the bot pages;
The blocking of the blog because of the promotion of spam in the form of mailings;
The blocking of the blog for the propaganda of self-inflicted injuries, anorexia, suicide;
The blocking of the blog for propaganda of violence and murder;
The blocking of the account for the adding more than 1,000 people a day;
The loss of all the published information in the case of the blog blocking.
4.3. Working in Twitter
4.3.1. General description of the department
Twitter is a social network for public short messages exchange (up to 140 symbols) using
web interface, SMS, instant messaging service or other client programs for Internet users. Twitter’s
audience is young; it is popular among urban users interested in news.
Twitter features a large number of accounts of real celebrities and politicians who personally
(or with the help of press service) keep their accounts upload photos and communicate with fans.
The system of communication in Twitter is most public and simple. There are some features:
users can join groups by subject or type using the hashtag – words or phrases (written without gap)
beginning with “#”. The sign “@” before a nickname of the user is used to mention or to reply to
other users. There is also a system of private messages, but it is rarely used.
4.3.2 General audience Sites
Twitter in the US is a very popular and powerful social network, ordinary and popular users
are very sociable and ready to react to hot topics in Twitter and out of it.
Picture
1. Location of
the
publications
of American
Twitter users
(indicating
geolocation)
from
September
2011 to
September
2014.
has one of the
youngest audiences among all social networks; among American Twitter users 30% are at the age
of 18-29 years, and only 5% are older than 65 years. However, audience from 55 to 64 years is the
most rapidly growing with the growth rate of 79% since 2012. Usually Twitter users live in the
cities of residential suburbs (pic.1). People are addicted to use Twitter for receiving news. In 2012
83% of Internet users confirmed that they read news on Twitter. More than a quarter of Latin-
American or Afro-American internet users in the USA use Twitter. Only 14% of white internet
users have accounts in Twitter (pic.2).
Picture 2. Percentage of users in each social category of the USA who use Twitter
(according to sociological researches).
According to researches the best time for publication of a tweet for advertising campaigns is
from Monday to Thursday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (on time relevant for user), and also from 10 p.m.
to 11 p.m. The worst time is on Friday after 3 p.m., as this is the time of the lowest activity in
Twitter.
4.3.3. Work options
The main work purpose is creation of political intensity through supporting radical groups, users
dissatisfied with social and economic situation and oppositional social movements. This work can be
divided into three large directions: creating leaders of public opinion, commenting on leaders of public
opinion, and working with hot topics.
1.1 Creating leaders of public opinion
This direction has special thematic accounts that are controlled by bloggers together and in
shifts. Thematic accounts we divide in 2 groups:
thematic accounts with auto filling;
personal thematic accounts (entertaining).
1.2 Commenting leaders of public opinion.
Commenting public opinion leaders must be carried out to promote a position and to
distribute newsmakers on Twitter: federal and regional politicians, bloggers, public figures. On
the one hand it provides an imitation of the interest in required subjects for the VIP-user`s
followers, on the other – helps to achieve response from the VIP-user.
1.3 Working with hot topics.
Hot topics are the most discussed subjects in Twitter lately which users of the most popular
microblog service (pic.3) are interested in most of all. Thanks to a large number of users in the
USA and to the high level of their activity, hot topics rather precisely reflect the most important
online and offline positions and change with high frequency. The subject of the average
importance stays hot for about an hour.
Picture 3. Screenshot of relevant subjects in the USA.
It is possible to use 2 methods of work promoting content: the mass publication posts on the
existing hot topics and deducing our own hot topics.
The mass publication posts on the existing hot topics
The mass publication represents the publication of the messages containing their own
hashtag on the existing hot topics to cause required sufficient reaction of real users of Twitter
and mass media.
Deducing our own hot topics.
The deducing of a hashtag represents the mass publication posts from accounts of bot
network to create technical illusion of public discussion. It will provide a raise of our subject in
the list of hot topics and will cause reaction of real users of Twitter and mass media.
4.2.4. Requirements for the content
Small amount of information that makes a message in Twitter, as well as the high speed of
information distribution in a social network requires constant monitoring of news and the
blogosphere. The key to high-quality content is its relevance and specific presentation.
Specific presentation is ensured by the use of a tweet themed graphic or video, or by writing
witty messages (unexpected conclusions or text jokes).
Stylistic finish of a message is important, for that allows quoting the post apart from other
messages from the user's feed.
4.3.5. Job duties and employee requirements
For effective work in Twitter there should be a team of 10 with the division in functions:
maintaining thematic accounts, commenting leaders of public opinion. Also all bloggers must
participate in supporting and socializating a bot network to control the accounts prepared for
automatization, to prepare messages to get a hashtag to the top in relevant topics.
1.4 Registration of accounts and monitoring the bot network.
There is a bot-net of accounts to work in American Twitter which is under joint control of all
the bloggers. Bot-net accounts are divided by gender and race due to differences in the subjects
they publish: both automatic and bringing out hashtag and mass publication of reports on
current topics.
Bloggers use special software for posting messages and adding followers to maintain bot
network in proper condition. The bot network is monitored and defects and malfunction of
particular accounts are eliminated on a daily basis.
There is a need to create and register new bot accounts because of periodic loss of some
accounts due to bans from Twitter. During creation and designing new accounts for bot
networks bloggers find content necessary for design and initial publications (including essential
content) and initial subscribers.
1.5 Socialization and personal accounts of socialization
To maintain the bot network in American part of Twitter there is a need to socialize bot
accounts to make them look more real. Socialization means certain required and sufficient
activities in Twitter (adding to favorites and retweeting messages of other Twitter users):
communication with real users in the network in real time and publication of content and
messages.
Bloggers also have personal accounts for socialization which they manage personally: fille
with different content and publish messages, communicate with real Twitter users in real time
and perform typical actions (addition to favorites and a retweet of messages of other Twitter
users), use hashtags and replies. Maintaining personal accounts of socialization is necessary for
getting required and sufficient reaction of real users of Twitter, and also, if it is possible, a
reaction of mass media. The reaction of real users means:
open a dialog with bot network accounts after publicating their messages;
a mention of bot network accounts in messages of real users (a replay, a mark in a
photo);
retweet/addition in the favorites the messages posted by bot network accounts.
Search for content is made by bloggers by themselves according to subject and specifics of
personal socialization account. For this purpose they carry out monitoring of the foreign mass
media and the websites generating various target content.
1.6 Creating leaders of public opinion.
Thematic accounts with auto filling are managed automatically and subscribed to RSS-feed.
The support of such accounts is carried out by checking out the correct work of auto filling, and
also carrying out required and sufficient activity with the account: addition to favorites and
retweeting messages of other Twitter users suitable for the subject of this special thematic
account, publication of additional content, suitable for subject of this special thematic account.
Personal thematic accounts are maintained personally by bloggers. The support of these
accounts is carried out by publishing posts with thematic content (including corresponding
hashtags) and conducting typical actions in Twitter (addition to favorites and retweeting
messages of other users suitable to the subject of this certain thematic account; communication
with users of). The search for content is made by bloggers themselves according to the subject
and specifics of their personal thematic account. For this purpose they carry out monitoring of
the foreign mass media and the websites generating various target content.
Maintaining personal accounts of socialization is necessary to get the required and sufficient
reaction of real users r, and also, if it is possible, the reaction of mass media.
1.7 Commenting the leaders of public opinion.
To comment the leaders of public opinion none needs: popular and credible for many other
users accounts. Commenting is carried out through the list of VIP – users that include special
characteristics (political position, activity, probability of response, etc.).
The process of commenting includes:
monitoring of the leaders of public opinion on the list;
finding a resonance message;
publishing a comment to the message or to the comment which has a potential to develop
into a discussion on political subject;
recording the response.
1.8 The mass publication of the posts on hot topics.
During the preparation for the mass publication and its implementation by bloggers the
following actions are carried out:
monitoring of mass media and resources on the Internet or analysis of the task;
writing messages according to the task and to the collected data of the monitoring;
preparation and differentiation messages for the publication;
allocation functions between bloggers;
preparation of programs for the automatic publication posts, for automatic retweet
posting, addition to favorites and Android emulators;
running above-mentioned programs, publication posts manually with Android emulators;
monitoring and recording the reaction of users during publications.
The reaction of real users means:
opening a dialog with bot network accounts after publication their messages with
attached hashtag;
retweeting/addition to favorites of the messages published by accounts of bot network
with certain hashtag;
publishing posts by real users with attached hashtag or messages about attached
hashtag/on subject of the hashtag;
publishing articles about the published messages in media.
1.9 Bringing out own relevant topics.
During preparation and process of bringing out hashtag blogger carry out:
monitoring of mass media and resources on the Internet or analysis of the task;
writing messages according to the task and to the collected data of the monitoring;
preparation and differentiation messages for the publication;
allocation functions between bloggers;
preparation of programs for the automatic publication posts, for automatic retweet
posting, addition to favorites and Android emulators;
running above-mentioned programs, publication posts manually with Android emulators;
monitoring and recording the reaction of users during publications.
The reaction of real users means:
opening a dialog with bot network accounts after publication their messages with
attached hashtag;
retweeting/addition to favorites of the messages published by accounts of bot network
with certain hashtag;
publishing posts by real users with attached hashtag or messages about attached
hashtag/on subject of the hashtag;
publishing articles about the published messages in media.
4.4.6. Performance assessment. Accountability
Positive result of creating leaders of public opinion is an existence of regular retweets and
additions to favorites messages published by a thematic account, a dialogue with real users and
getting replies/comments and reaction to the published content. The control over the work done and
the results is made by calculating the number of publications per account during a day and getting
screenshots with the statistics of the user reaction provided by the internal analytical service
twitter.com.service.
Positive result of mass posting on relevant subjects is retweets and additions of the messages
to favorites, a dialog with real users and replies/comments. Special attention is paid to the reaction
from the accounts of public opinion leaders. The control over the work and results is made by
calculating the number of published messages and getting screenshots of reaction of real
users/mass media.
Positive result of bringing out one’s own relevant topic is real transforming of hashtag into
hot topic at least for a short while, retweets and additions of the messages published by us to
favorites, a dialogue with real users and replies/comments. The special attention is paid to the
reaction from the accounts of public opinion leaders and mass media. Control over the work and
results is made by getting screenshots of the appearing hashtag and the period it stayed in hot
topics.
4.4.7. Security issues
In order to avoid the detection of the work of the bot account network in Twitter it is
recommended not to follow each other’s bot accounts and also to try avoid confusions while using
several accounts at the same time. Whenever possible it is necessary to use individual IP address
for each account constantly which will also allow to avoid the blocking of an account due to
frequent change of that address. It is not recommended to engage in an aggressive discussion using
many accounts in any feed of comments to avoid detection of same bot network usage.
Because each published tweet contains information about the user location, it is important to
pay sufficient attention to setting up proxy servers while working in American Twitter.
First of all, a constant access to a number of IP addresses, a control of their working
condition and proper usage are necessary for distinct and debugged work. Secondly, the quantity of
IP addresses must be sufficient depending on the size of expected activity of the bot network.
Third, a work with estimated proxy servers must be built in the way that minimizes the possibility
of detection of basic data of network/provider. In American Twitter There is a threat of blocking.
Types of blocking:
full blocking – account gets status “suspended” and loses the opportunity for any Twitter
activity, except monitoring;
partial blocking – account gets status “blocked” and loses the opportunity to carry out a of
Twitter actions.
It is possible to avoid blocking by obliging the limits of the network regarding the number of
actions (no more that 1000 actions from 1 account, no more than 250 personal messages a
day, no more than 200 additions to friends). Also a competent and full filling of the account
and password complicated enough give additional help as well as existence of an e-mail box
for each account, and whenever possible a connection of the account to a real phone
number. Following the above-mentioned rules not only helps to avoid fast blocking, but
also secure working process.
4.3.8.Automation
Twitter provides considerable tools for automation and scaling an activity which can
conditionally be divided on internal and external.
1.10 Internal automation.
Internal automation represents full automation of certain functions at the expense of creating
an application on the API twitter platform. List of such functions: post publication from news
feeds on a regular basis, the analysis of followers of public opinion leaders and addition them
with the purpose of mutual addition, the analysis of hot topics, the analysis of the messages
published by users, etc.
1.11 External automation.
External automation is done due to creation of browsers, emulators of mobile operating
systems, etc. Such automation allows to e such problems as: mass addition of tweets to unlimited
number of accounts within a short time, addition of followers with the purpose of mutual
addition, imitation of the publication of messages through a mobile platform, etc.
4.4. Working in Facebook
4.4.1. General description of the department
Facebook is the most popular social network in the world. It contains the personal data, information about
users’ interactions and their attitudes towards any event that is happening within the system or in real life.
The fact that all the information on Facebook is posted by a user himself allows us to get the accurate and
up to date information straight from the source. Facebook user friendly interface allows not only to get
any kind of media content, but also to generate it.
Over 1.39 billion monthly active.
864 millions of users active per day.
66% of all the Facebook users are at the age between 15-35
In comparison with other social network services Facebook has following advantages:
Free legal content exchange
Detailed information about user personality
User social contacts information
An ability to express any legitimate opinion
There are two general types of a user activities on Facebook:
1) Communication with other users.
2) Getting media content from the newsfeed
4.4.2. General audience. Sites
Facebook is the most popular social network services within the USA. The total number of USA citizens
registered in Face book is 130 million that makes about 57% of the whole American population.
About 97% of Americans at the age from 18 to 29 have profile in Facebook.
All American and international mass media are well represented in Facebook (Fox News, Being Liberal,
The Tea Party, Cop Block). Our choice of certain media depends on the aim we want to reach in particular
situation. To read the selection criteria go to 3.2.
4.4.3. Work options
The main goal of all types of our activities is destabilization of political life and provoking the social
tensions within the US society. This goal can be reached by the means of:
1) Supporting the most radical part of Facebook users;
2) Supporting the political and social movements that are in opposition towards the ruling regime;
3) Popularization of negative opinions among common users.
We can practice all types of activities mentioned above, both creating our own profiles and communities
and being active in already existing communities.
1.1 Our public pages
Most Facebook users get the relevant information from their news feeds. Creating our own public pages
gives us an opportunity to promote our vision of any event. In other words, every our public page is a
media which provides the targeted audience with the information people are interested in, in the way
which radicalizes their views and intentions.
Our public page should have a clear and reasonable massage from the moment it is available for every
Facebook user.
One of the most important purposes our public page must achieve first of all is gathering a targeted
audience (subscribers) who agree with the ideas represented by the media content we promote. This is
how we can influence our audience in the area we have chosen.
It is is very important to keep in mind that our online activities can turn into real offline events for
depending on the size of the audience (the whole country, or a certain city) we can turn subscriber into
real people. As we want to show a high performance of our projects, we need to compare our possibilities
and our goals.
1.2 Other public pages
Our work with public pages of other people primary includes posting comments that contain an opinion
we promote. To guarantee high response to every comment we need to check if the public page agenda is
appropriate enough for the ideas we promote.
Goals:
- To make a list of appropriate public pages according to our project general strategy. A public page
must correspond with our topics, it must have enough subscribers performing regular activity for
promoting our ideas, it must be open for any comments.
NB: Public pages with the great number of subscribers but low activities must be ignored.
- Also, we must divide public pages according to their attitude towards our ideas and activities:
Friendly
Neutral
Hostile
4.4.4. Requirements for the content
The first and the most important requirement for our media content is high quality. We must create only
hi-end content on a regular basis. This is the only way we can meet the competition in Facebook.
Moreover, the political issues we publish and promote must not contradict with the general strategy of the
whole project.
Options to promote political content using our public pages:
- To create a public page with political content only.
- To create a public page about general social issues, where a part of the content is related to our
ideas.
- To create a public page with fun content with a lot of good humorous content and a few political
publications.
-
Researches needed before starting a public page
- To monitor all the public pages and communities in Facebook that correspond with our general
strategy somehow;
- To make a competitive analysis of the public pages with similar topics;
- To find out what kind of audience can be possibly interested in our content. Here we must figure
out as much criteria as possible.
- To develop a proper name for the public page. The name must tell as much about the content of our
page as possible, still the name must meet the queries from different kinds of search engines.
- To develop a unique page design and style.
To guaranty the proper page activity there must be at least one content manager for each public page. He
is in charge of writing and posting two kinds of content
1) Daily agenda coverage according to our general strategy.
2) Informative, interesting and entertaining content just not to lose subscribers’ attention.
To get as much audience attention as possible you should:
- Proper time: post should be published in the time when most subscribers are online.
- Competition. Constant monitoring and analysis of the failures and achievements of our nearest
competitors and opponents. We must do it to avoid mistakes and use their successful cases to
promote our own content. In Facebook you can add interesting pages to follow the updates of the
competitors.
- Sections. Every public page must contain several topics, so a subscriber could easily understand
what the page is about.
- Structure. A successful post should consist of:
Hashtag which corresponds with the topic
Headline must tell the essence of the post
Main part
Conclusion (should contain a message according to our strategy)
Links and references to the sources of the information published.
Keywords and hashtags. They should have different frequency of use in the internet.
Every publication should contain graphic materials of any kind made in the same style as the
public page.
Successful comment criteria
- Proper size, in most cases 150 characters are enough to describe your position.
- Clear, simple, but not primitive language. You should avoid any kind of misunderstanding in you
comment.
- The main idea of your comment should be clear from the first sight.
- Timing. The sooner you publish your comment the higher chances you have to get to the top.
- Reaction. The more «likes», shares and responses your comment could get the higher the position
of the post is. Reaction guarantees top position for your comment.
4.4.5. Requirements for the employees
Content manager qualification requirements
1) English – advanced.
2) Text writing skills in English language.
3) Clear understanding of how the social media work.
4) Basic PC skills and web applications advanced user.
5) High learning skills
6) Stress resistance
7) Graphic software advanced user (Photoshop and others).
Content manager professional duties
1) Writing post on the basis of the information received from the department of analytics. Content
manager should have skills of “easy writing” and enough knowledge about stylistics.
2) Writing posts on general issues. To accomplish this task in time a content manager should have
rich background and an ability to show the essential idea of what he wants to write about. He
should be able to adopt any content to make it attractive.
SSM manager is responsible for promoting public pages. He must have a successful promoting
experience.
We can use at least three ways to promote our content:
- Official advertisement tools made for Facebook and other social media.
- External sources and link exchange services.
- Using our accounts in social media for cross posting that will create activity in a group in the beginning
(likes, reposts, comments).
Commentator professional duties:
- Creating accounts in Facebook
- Writing comments in selected groups to get a bigger response from other users.
- To comment one needs an account in Faceboook.
- Socialization of the created accounts, both basic and more serious. Information included depends
on the goals of the account.
Account general socialization includes:
- Userpic (avatar).
- Cover.
- Filled profile info.
- Publishing posts on the account wall.
- Finding and adding friends.
Also, a commentator can work on an advanced socialization for his account.
NB: Direct communication with the people from the targeted audience can be a special kind of
commentator’s activity which helps to solve global goals of the project.
The more «likes» a commentator gets the higher his position in the Top is.
4.4.6. Performance assessment. Accountability
Accountability depends on the goals and objectives completely. It is necessary to balance quantitative and
qualitative aspects of the work.
Quantitative indicators includes:
- Number of subscribers
- Number of posts published
- Number of comments
- Etc.
Quantitative indicators are provided in the form of diagrams. The numbers should grow according to the
control period (one month).
Quality indicators which can be also provided in the form of diagrams include: general reached audience,
publications, user involvement, and comment response.
Performance figures can be reported by particular post examples with the complex description of the
response they got.
4.4.7. Security issues
There is a number of risks connected with working in Facebook. The most popular among of them are:
- Account can be blocked with no possibility to recover.
- Deleting all the media content and comments posted from this account.
- Blocking of a public page if the account blocked was the only admin of this page.
- If the advertisement payment is not available and a debt appear on your payment card, your profile
as well as well as the public page you manage can be blocked.
- If your payment details do not satisfy the Facebook requirements, your profile as well as the public
page you manage can be blocked.
- Media content promotion can be impossible if the Facebook administration thinks the promoted
materials break some rule.
- If you create too many accounts, Facebook administration can check up your IP and other
parameters of your Internet provider.
4.5. Working in Youtube
4.5.1. General description of the department
YouTube is the most popular video hosting in the world where accounts of all users of the most wellknown
e-mail service Gmail are automatically created.
YouTube also has its own plug-in that is easily integrated into every site, that is why it has got maximum
distribution. Almost 90% of the clips that a user sees in the net are uploaded to YouTube and played with
the help of the plug-in.
The social network has also an advantage in the search results of Google engine. This increases the
chances a clip to be watched if a user is looking for it using a search query.
Youtube has also all advantages of social networks: user shares personal information, posts video clips,
subscribes to channels of famous people, video bloggers and friends, can comment and rate videos.
4.5.2. General audience. Sites
The general number of YouTube users is about 2 billion. 71% of them are citizens of the U.S.
Monthly audience of YouTube video hosting has passed over 1 billion users. Every other internet user in
the world enters YouTube.
4.5.3. Work options
The main subject of the work is creating social and political tension via supporting radical groups, users
dissatisfied with social and economic situation, and oppositional social movements.
This kind of work can be divided up into 2 directions: concentrating on creating personal YouTube
channels and commenting clips on other channels.
1. Working with personal You Tube channel
For the majority of users YouTube is the main source of video content that has been popular since 2006
and, according to different studies, users will prefer it to written information. Using public pages one has
an opportunity to constantly «saturate» loyal audience with thematic content. It will help to create certain
user attitude towards current/future events in politics and society.
Work starts with creation of a thematic public channel for which it is necessary to define goals and
objectives.
One of the goals can be creating target audience (subscribers of the channel) who are loyal to content that
is published. Therefore, the global goal is getting influence on public opinion of a certain
country/region/city.
Creating viral videos with as high as possible number of viewings can also be a goal.
2. Commenting clips on other YouTube channels.
It is necessary to take into consideration the channels with similar topics which one should work
with. The impact on the audience is made through commenting popular clips with political and hot
social topics and as well as communicating with the audience.
To achieve this it is necessary:
to determine popular channels and videos on political topics;
to create YouTube accounts with an opportunity to post;
to monitor activity of popular users and to form an attitude to their materials with the help of
comments;
4.5.4. Requirements for the content
Ways to integrate political content to personal channel:
- Creation a channel with social and political topics;
- Creating a news channel;
- Creating an entertainment channel where political content is slightly emphasized and presented in
sarcastic, or humorous way, or using of associations.
It is necessary to conduct following researches before creating a channel:
- To make a competitive analysis of other channels with the similar topics;
- To make a competitive analysis of other channels with related topics;
- To define potential audience of the group. It is necessary to pay attention to general factors (gender,
age, nationality) and also to more specific ones (pattern of net behavior, looked through and
marked clips; interests);
- «Naming» (name should represent the strategy of the page and be relevant to search queries both in
social network and in search engines)
- To create unique specifics of your channel (style, presentation of the content).
General requirements to video material:
- Sections. Channel should have a number of sections that could help to integrate related content and to
meet the fans` expectations
- «Structure» of a clip. Video should have the following elements:
Title
Description
Tags – maximum number of search queries to help users to find the video.
Promotion can be achieved by a number of ways
Through official ad tool «Google AdWords» in YouTube
Through networks and bloggers
Through publications in media and ratings
Through your own net of accounts that will create an activity on channels in the beginning (likes,
reposts, comments)
Through driving up lookups and subscribers
Basic socialization of an account should contain
Photo of a user («avatar»)
Cover
Filled in profile information (it is important to mention a location)
Initial number of subscribers
4.5.5. Requirements for the employees
To create a successful channel it is important to have:
A script writer who writes scenario and creates visual style
A designer and illustrator creates visual style
A Motion designer is responsible for animation
A SMM specialist is responsible for channel promotion in social networks
Basic requirements to a script writer include:
Knowledge of popular tendencies in YouTube
Experience in scenario writing
An ability to work in a team
An ability to deliver the information about a clip to the illustrator and motion designer
An ability to analyze a big amount of information
An ability to work in basic MO programs and AnimeStudioPro (program for video editing)
English language knowledge
Basic requirements to an illustrator include:
Knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and SAI
An ability to work in a team
Knowledge of current tendencies in graphics
Basic requirements to motion designer include:
Software knowledge: Adobe After Effects, DUIK plug-in;
Knowledge of Adobe Photoshop
An ability to work in a team
Knowledge of current tendencies in graphics
Basic requirements to SMM specialist include:
English language knowledge
Knowledge of current tendencies in social networks
An ability to work in basic PC programs
Knowledge and experience in creating a presence concept in social networks
Knowledge of ad tools in social networks: AdWords (YouTube), Ad Manager (Facebook);
Basic knowledge of Photoshop graphic program
4.5.6. Performance assessment. Accountability
Accountability depends on the goals and objectives completely. It is necessary to balance quantitative and
qualitative aspects of the work.
Quantitative numbers are provided in the form of diagrams. The numbers should grow according to the
control period (one month).
Examples of quantitative numbers: number of channel subscribers, number of created clips, number of
clip viewings, general amount of views on the channel.
It is also convenient to report the qualitative numbers in the form of diagrams.
Qualitative numbers include number of likes and comments below videos.
Qualitative numbers are quite well represented in certain examples, like indicating a video and what kind
of a «response» it got, as well as examples of replies of other users.
4.5.7. Security issues
There is a number of risks connected with working in YouTube. The most popular among of them are:
- The channel is blocked if there is an infringement of copyright for video or audio content, or violation
of principles of social network community or terms of use;
- The channel is also blocked if there is a single serious violations (for example, provoking behavior or
spam messaging), violation of rules (discriminatory posts, offenses, sock puppets, etc);
- It is possible to unblock the channel after a single appeal of the decision. After that it is possible to
appeal no sooner than 30 days and then after 3 and 6 months;
- If administrating account is blocked, the ability to administer the channel is blocked automatically.
To avoid risks it is necessary:
- To create unique content or check the content carefully. It should not infringe copyright.
- If account is blocked, it is necessary to thoroughly think the content of the appeal letter with the unblock
request through.
Chapter 5. Working in other social networks
SMM – Social Media Marketing. Marketing in social media. PR in social media – in blogs, forums, internet
communities.
Blog – “internet diary” where user can deliver different information to the internet community. Blogs are divided
by the type of information presentation:
News
Visual
Pictures
Videos
Gif’s
Ads
Post – message posted in a blog which may include various combinations of text, images and video.
Notes - the total number of responses received from a particular post. Divided into:
Repost – action allowing to tell about the story in your blog with one click.
Like – approval of the materials, user photos with one click.
Point – approval of photos or pictures uploaded to 9gag.
Bans – one of the accepted methods of control over the actions of users in the internet. Ban is a deprivation or
restriction of any rights of a user (sending new messages or creating new threads on the forum, or commenting on a
blogs etc.).
Automation - one of the areas of scientific and technical progress, which uses the self-regulatory technical tools
and mathematical methods in order to free the person from participation in the processes of acquisition, conversion,
transmission and use of energy, materials, products, or information, or a substantial reduction in the degree of
participation or labor intensity of the operations.
Bot – special program performing automatically and / or on a predetermined schedule any actions through the same
interface as a normal user. In the discussion, the term computer program is used mainly in the application to the
Internet.
Instagram – free app for video and photo exchange, allowing to take take photo and video, apply special filters,
and distribute them, and a number of other social networks.
Tasks:
Creating accounts
Keeping accounts
Adding the content in accordance with the relevant topics, and other content
Selection of suitable photos and captions.
Socialization relevant to blog requests.
Using modern tendencies while keeping a blog (hashtags, replies on comments under the posts)
Supporting accounts by using “likes” and comments (to attract a large audience)
Automation – using plug-ins (in Chrome and Firefox) is possible.
Risks:
Ban for following for more than 1000 people daily.
Ban for regular IP address change.
Ban for pornography content.
Accounts which are banned, can’t be “unbanned”
Bans without warning.
9GAG - largest humorous website in the world, users can upload photos, videos and GIF-images. Has 10 sections.
2 of them are permanent:
Trends
Fresh
Tasks:
Creating accounts
Graphical content selection according to relevant topics
Selection of captions to graphic content
Promotion of materials to “Trends”
Supporting accounts by using “likes” and comments(to attract a large audience)
Automation:
Autoposting
Using of plug-ins (Chrome, Firefox)
BuzzFeed – online news media company, founded in 2006 in New York. JonahPeretti, the founder, originally
planned a company as a small internet lab, but it turned into the great international media portal that surveys the
wide range of topics from international politics to television shows and creative workshops.
Tasks
1. Creation of accounts;
2. Selection of graphic content according to the relevant topics;
3. Selection of the captions to the graphic content;
4. Writing posts;
5. News posting according to the topics;
6. Mutual support of the accounts with the help of likes and comments (great way to attract audience).
Automation opportunities:
• Automatic posting;
• Using the plug-in for the browser (Chrome, FireFox).
Risks:
1. Ban for spamming;
2. Ban for the pornography.
Vine - a mobile app that allows you to create short videos. Owned by Twitter since October 2012. The service was
opened to the public on January 24, 2013. On the 9th of April 2013 Vine became the most downloaded free app in
iOSAppStore.
Tasks
1. Creation of the accounts in the ratio (50% of the thematic, 50% of the abstract);
2. Managing accounts;
3. Posting video clips 6 seconds long;
4. Socialization according to relevant queries;
5. Usingrequired hash tags while uploading video clips.
Automation opportunities:
• Automatic posting;
• Using the plug-in for the browser (Chrome, FireFox).
Risks:
Ban for pornography.
Flickr – service designed for storage and later usage of digital photos and videos. One of the most popular sites
among bloggers for posting photos.
Tasks
1. Creation of the accounts;
2. Managing accounts;
3. Posting graphic content (1 tb digital photos) and clips;
4. Selection of titles and descriptions for the each photo or video;
5. Using the keywords (hashtags) while uploading photos and video clips;
6. Creating groups of interest with discussion opportunity;
7. Inviting other users and their photos to groups.
Risks:
Ban for posting the products of the other users, and a copyright infringement as a consequence.
Automation opportunities:
• Automatic posting;
• Using the plug-in for the browser (Chrome, FireFox).
MySpace – the international social network (website online communities, blogging platform), which gives an
opportunity to create groups of interest, personal profiles, blog, post photos and video, as well as the opportunity to
listen to audio tracks of popular artists. Headquartered in Beverly - Hills, CA, USA).
Tasks
1. Creating accounts;
2. Managing accounts;
3. Posting graphic content (1 tb digital photos) and clips;
4. Selecting titles and descriptions for the each photo or video;
5. Using keywords (hash tags) while uploading photos and video clips;
6. Creating groups of interest with discussion opportunity;
7. Inviting other users to the groups.
Risks:
• Ban for the adding a large number of people under 18;
• Ban for violation the provisions of the user license agreement;
• Ban for the active adding of minors and women;
• Unlock is impossible.
Automation capabilities:
• Automatic posting; • Using the plug-in for the browser (Chrome, FireFox).
Chapter 6: Conclusion
“God did not create this country to be a nation of followers. America is not destined to be one of several equally
balanced global powers"
Mitt Romney,
US presidential candidate in the 2012 elections
The American vision of the world order is based on the unipolarity principle and the acknowledgement of the US
rights for unilateral actions. Over the time this position has only got stronger among the national political elite.
History has failed to convince the US government that the presence of military and technical power only is not
enough for the stable existence.
Just after the end of the Cold War when international politics entered the phase of the unipolar world the United
States creates a scheme to work with the countries that disagree with its policies. At first, the basic principles of the
international policy are announced. Opposing countries face the controlled chaos that leads to the destabilization of
the situation in the country and near its borders.
Globalization which has brought many innovations to the daily life grew in parallel with the growing ambitions of
the United States. It has become completely impossible to control or to cover the whole information flow.
Thematic groups in social networks, news feeds, television programs, radio broadcasts, and targeted advertising
distribution – all of these tools shape the public opinion. In turn, the power goes to someone who knows how to
create and subsequently manage this opinion. The Arab Spring, which resulted in thousands of deaths, started with
posts on Twitter that urged people in Egypt to join the demonstrations against President Mubarak.
Playing the role of the world’s police and using the tools of information warfare the US continues to control the
- unipolar world and to monopolize the right for truth.
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