Traditional media, such as television, radio or newspapers, offer only one-way communication, while social media provide two-way communication. Today, the individuals are the source, creator and user of the content. The scope of social media usage is large, and the forms of social media on the internet are diverse. Currently we can use blogs, forums, virtual worlds, review services, social networks and content sharing sites. While analyzing the theoretical definition, forms and scope of usage the basic characteristics of social media emerged. First of all, social media are relatively cheap, they provide anonymity, large amount of information and easy communication. Social media have distinguished themselves as one of the political instruments, they emphasized and increased the power of the individual, erased borders and enabled modern insurgencies whose goals or motives go beyond the boundaries of the state in which they take place to last longer. Analyzing the needs of the insurgency movements, it can be concluded that insurgents today most often use social media on the Internet to inform others about their activities, finance themselves, coordinate activities, as well as for recruitment and data collection. States also use social media to protect their own interests and achieve their goals. States often have more resources, so it became easier and more effective to support independent groups in fight against insurgency. By analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of social media, depending on the defense system and approach to counterinsurgency, states can use the same social media features as insurgents but to their disadvantage. First, anonymity on the Internet because it is not that easy to stay anonymous, and also for data collection about insurgents and their mobilization of wider support against insurgent movement. Finally, even though the fight in the social media space has begun, the use of social media for offensive purposes is not that beneficial for insurgent movements. In practice, apart from spreading propaganda, insurgents are still failing to exploit the full potential of social media, primarily because of the countermeasures taken by the governments (blocking access, censorship, infiltration, monitoring communications). Currently, the balance is on the states' side, because they can gain information about the goals of the movement, its members and how they operate; also, thanks to the social media, the forces of the states are "closer" to their own population, thus facilitating and expanding the mobilization of the counterinsurgency forces.