The platformization of military communication: The digital strategy of the Israel Defense Forces on Twitter

Abstract

Platforms are conditioning the way public communication is conducted while presenting themselves as neutral connectors. Social media logic encompasses norms, strategies, mechanisms and economies acting at the intersection between online platforms and society. Military communication is adapting itself to communicative and socio-technical innovations dictated by online platforms and social network sites. Armies are currently using digital media and online platforms in at least two different ways: a promotional one, based on the ‘normalization’ of militarism, and a conflictual one, based on the display and management of conflicts. In this article, the authors apply qualitative content analysis to investigate the platformed strategy of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Twitter account. Results show how the IDF embraces platformization and uses social media logic to develop a coherent narrative, projecting an attractive image, establishing an international positioning and defining international interlocutors. The institution of communicative formats, the multiplication of themes and representational artefacts, and a re-defined aesthetics of army and violence are enabled by social media logic. Tweets from the IDF follow a dual path: they contribute to normalizing militarism and act on the conflictual display of current affairs.