Intermediaries have long played a significant role for military forces in understanding the population within the operational environment. They have served as a hub where information from the population is collected and processed into intelligence that military forces can use. Inherent to this relationship is that by collecting and processing information for military forces, these intermediaries have allowed personal biases to shape the narrative about the peoples' wants, needs, and desires in the operational environment. The importance of understanding the population and the growth of social media can change that relationship through leveraging social media intelligence. Utilizing Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT), military forces can now collect and process information about a population while minimized the ability of intermediaries to affect the narrative.

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