0000000000898712
AUTHOR
Miika Sartonen
From influencee to influencer : the rhizomatic target audience of the cyber domain
The messages of an influence operation are interpreted in a variety of ways by their receivers. To increase the probability of success, these messages are typically tailored to affect a defined group, a target audience. Target audience analysis (TAA) is a process of finding suitable target audiences for influence operations. There are multiple ways of completing the task, ranging from fast and intuitive to complex multi-staged processes. These processes use the information available at the moment of making presumptions about the effectiveness of competing approaches in order to choose those with best end results. The internet presents a challenge to this type of sequential, linear process b…
Rhizomatic Target Audiences of the Cyber Domain
Target Audience Analysis (TAA) is a process of finding suitable target audiences for psychological operations (PSYOPS). Typically, a TAA is a one-way process with some kind of a feedback system. The cyber domain presents a challenge to this type of sequential, linear process by refusing to stay still while the process is being executed, possibly leading to results from yesterday’s data in an environment that no longer exists today. Another challenge is that identifiable human beings—the traditional targets of PSYOPS—are not the only inhabitants of the cyber domain. Physical devices, nicknames, IP addresses, networks, and a vast amount of data populate this environment, in which there are no…