Studio Session 1 Reflection

In today's class my group started discussing ISIS and their role on social media. Through research, I learned that not only does ISIS create highly graphic and gory videos to recruit members, but they also publish videos of propaganda where ISIS soldiers are featured giving candy to small children and visiting wounded soldiers in hospitals. I think this adds an interesting dimension to the intent of ISIS's use of social media. Clearly, the terrorist group is not only attempting to gain followers by instilling fear through gruesome executions, but they are also now trying to exude an appearance of being an organization that "cares" about its members. Additionally, one article mentioned that ISIS also consistently spreads rumors online claiming that they have raided a particular area or city to intimidate citizens from taking action. Therefore ISIS's online recruitment has transcended its orginal purpose of gaining support, through also leverging the speed and breadth of the internet to seize control of various towns and cities.