‘Hello, world’ : GCHQ, Twitter and social media engagement

McLoughlin, LDG; Ward, SJ; Lomas, DWB

Abstract

In May 2016, Britain’s signals intelligence agency the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) joined the social media platform Twitter with the message ‘Hello, world’. For an agency once seen as the UK’s ‘most secret’, GCHQ’s moved to social media received significant attention from the press and other social media, often resulting in ridicule or clichés around the ‘Big Brother’ state. But why the move and what has been the impact? Can GCHQ’s use of Twitter provide lessons for other agencies considering adopting this method? The article suggests that, while certainly welcome, and allowing the agency to reach out to a new tech-savvy generation of potential recruits, while questioning stereotypes of what GCHQ does, efforts towards openness can only go so far and sometimes stoke and amplify conspiracy theories affecting issues such as brand identity.

Citation

McLoughlin, L., Ward, S., & Lomas, D. (2020). ‘Hello, world’ : GCHQ, Twitter and social media engagement. Intelligence and National Security, 35(2), 233-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2020.1713434

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 22, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jan 19, 2020
• Publication Date: Jan 19, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jan 6, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 19, 2021
• Journal: Intelligence and National Security
• Print ISSN: 0268-4527
• Electronic ISSN: 1743-9019
• Publisher: Routledge
• Volume: 35
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 233-251
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2020.1713434
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2020.1713434
• Related Public URLs: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fint20