(ThyBlackMan.com) As the world embraces Social Media and moves forward in quantifying the information online with platforms and tools that are readily accepted as reliable and dependable, information is a valuable commodity in the world.
There is developing a blur of digital lines between what is real and unreal when accessing information. There are increasing false reports of major disasters growing from extremists groups like ISIS to draw attention, falsely to events that they are claiming responsibility for.
The New York Times article telling of events at chemical companies
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html?_r=1 of explosions, terrorist’s activities and deaths orchestrated by ISIS on US soil has been falsely created to confuse, disorient and even magnify the strength of terrorist organizations seeking to destroy America.
Using Social Media platforms and tools along with movie production style actors and borrowing film coverage of other non-related events ISIS is now producing false intelligence activities, a counter intelligence move to create fear in the United States. 
Having attended Blogging While Brown a national Social Media conference http://BloggingWhileBrown.com/and learning from some of the best Social Media content creators, it can be seen intelligently how this could have been pulled off. The Columbian Chemicals hoax showed how using and integrating diverse tech resources a production of this magnitude could have been done.
In the area it is was executed – St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, this hoax was very coordinated and a planned misinformation campaign.
Social Media accounts were created and key people were targeted for a Social Media attack of misleading information. Showing that if you understand Social Media and apply it correctly it is an effective tool to misinform and distract. Causing confusion, mistrust and has the potential to trigger chaos. The events achieved a certain level of confusion for several hours until people like Duval Arthur, Director of the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness for St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, figured out what was happening after multiple communications with personnel in different areas of expertise.
Other events as in Atlanta, Georgia 2014 where false Ebola hashtags were created #EbolaInAtlanta, shows that information can be created that is false and create emotional and psychological distractions. Serious societal issues and occurrences are being created that have and will continue to have profound
effects on the public’s trust and reliability of news and information.
Social Media even though has been around for years has created a level of trust and reliability, but coupled with doubt because information can be manipulated and changed. The worlds’ financial stability is sometimes influenced by world events such as war, protests, the actions of groups and individuals that are key players in global commerce and finance. In today’s world economy a single change in petroleum prices can either generate global celebration or make consumers worry about how much a gallon of gas will cost in the next few hours.
In Russia, China, North Korea and other countries along with the United States have and are training people for counter intelligence on Social Media. The new pre-war conflicts will be digital manipulation with hacking, counter intelligence and attacks on the hearts and minds of citizens that rely on global information from the Internet. Future conflicts may be the results of strikes at Social Media sites that have the attention of people who are well away from the front lines of battle fields, but intimately attached to what is happening and influenced by Social Media content that is created by enemies smart and intelligent when creating content in a digital environment.
Technology has the capacity to share important and positive information, but like any tool that man creates it can also be used to create misinformation, misdirection, and disrupt the trust of online information.
Staff Writer; William D. Jackson
Find out more about this talented writer over at; OCS For Education.