5 The Challenges of Social Media for the Intelligence Community Andrew N. Liaropoulos Abstract Information and communication technologies have a broad impact on every aspect of social life. Cyberspace is an expanding digital network that connects social, business and military networks around the world. The advent of social media has had a fundamental effect on how people communicate and act. In recent years, social media has emphasized the potential for citizens to engage in the public sphere, inform, communicate, affect governance within and across national borders and at the same time empower governments to reach out in new ways and to broader audiences than before. In an interdependent world where communication is transmitted at the speed of light, social media can serve as a tool to understand, but also control societies. The social revolutions that took place in Iran, Tunisia, Egypt and other countries revealed that social media and social networks can function as a force multiplier for political action. These developments have not escaped the attention of the intelligence community. The transition from the traditional means of communication (press, radio and television) to the social media, affects many aspects of the intelligence business. The emergence of social media intelligence poses technical, conceptual and operational challenges for the intelligence agencies. Introduction Over the last years we have witnessed a rapid growth of social media platforms. People communicate, interact and socialize through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Skype, Flickr, WordPress, YouTube and LinkedIn. Social media platforms have created a public sphere that provides information about every aspect of human life and enables the spread of ideas. Recent events in a number