TY - JOUR
T1 - The Islamic State’s information warfare
T2 - Measuring the success of ISIS’s online strategy
AU - Siegel, Alexandra A.
AU - Tucker, Joshua A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support for the NYU Social Media and Political Participation (SMaPP) lab, which is Co-Directed by Tucker along with Richard Bonneau, Jonathan Nagler, and John T. Jost, from the INSPIRE program of the National Science Foundation (Award SES-1248077), the New York University Global Institute for Advanced Study, and Dean Thomas Carew’s Research Investment Fund at New York University. We also
Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support for the NYU Social Media and Political Participation (SMaPP) lab, which is Co-Directed by Tucker along with Richard Bonneau, Jonathan Nagler, and John T. Jost, from the INSPIRE program of the National Science Foundation (Award SES-1248077), the New York University Global Institute for Advanced Study, and Dean Thomas Carew’s Research Investment Fund at New York University. We also thank NYU’s Center on International Cooperation and Sarah Cliffe for financial support for the data collection specific to this project. Both of the authors contributed to the research design and editing of the manuscript. Siegel conducted the analyses, created the figures, and wrote the original draft of the manuscript. We thank Yvan Scher and Jonathan Ronen for programming support.
Funding Information:
thank NYU’s Center on International Cooperation and Sarah Cliffe for financial support for the data collection specific to this project. Both of the authors contributed to the research design and editing of the manuscript. Siegel conducted the analyses, created the figures, and wrote the original draft of the manuscript. We thank Yvan Scher and Jonathan Ronen for programming support.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - How successful is the Islamic State’s online strategy? To what extent does the organization achieve its goals of attracting a global audience, broadcasting its military successes, and marketing the Caliphate? Using Twitter and YouTube search data, collected throughout 2015 and early 2016, we assess how suspected ISIS accounts, sympathizers, and opponents behave across two social media platforms, offering key insights into the successes and limitations of ISIS’s information warfare strategy. Analyzing the tweet content and metadata from 16,364 suspected ISIS accounts, we find that a core network of ISIS Twitter users are producing linguistically diverse narratives, touting battlefield victories and depicting utopian life in the Caliphate. Furthermore, a dataset of over 70 million tweets, as well as analysis YouTube search data, indicates that although pro-ISIS content spreads globally and remains on message, it is far less prolific than anti-ISIS content. However, this anti-ISIS content is not necessarily anti-extremist or aligned with Western policy goals.
AB - How successful is the Islamic State’s online strategy? To what extent does the organization achieve its goals of attracting a global audience, broadcasting its military successes, and marketing the Caliphate? Using Twitter and YouTube search data, collected throughout 2015 and early 2016, we assess how suspected ISIS accounts, sympathizers, and opponents behave across two social media platforms, offering key insights into the successes and limitations of ISIS’s information warfare strategy. Analyzing the tweet content and metadata from 16,364 suspected ISIS accounts, we find that a core network of ISIS Twitter users are producing linguistically diverse narratives, touting battlefield victories and depicting utopian life in the Caliphate. Furthermore, a dataset of over 70 million tweets, as well as analysis YouTube search data, indicates that although pro-ISIS content spreads globally and remains on message, it is far less prolific than anti-ISIS content. However, this anti-ISIS content is not necessarily anti-extremist or aligned with Western policy goals.
KW - ISIS
KW - Islamic State
KW - Social media
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85046902697&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85046902697&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1075/jlp.17005.sie
DO - 10.1075/jlp.17005.sie
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85046902697
SN - 1569-2159
VL - 17
SP - 258
EP - 280
JO - Journal of Language and Politics
JF - Journal of Language and Politics
IS - 2
ER -