ISIS and Social Media

LISIS, Islamic State of Syria and Israel, is a terrorist organization in the Middle East that has taken to social media to popularize their mission. The organization believes that it is their right to claim religious, political and military authority over all Muslims, therefore they punish anyone who they believe is defiant of their mission. Although ISIS operates in the Middle East, the organization has been successful in captivating the attention of the world through the utilization of several mediums of social media, their most popular being Twitter and YouTube. Their Twitter handle ISIS_Med (Islamic State Media) has over 15.8 thousands follower and has sparked an anti-ISIS Twitter account called Operation Ice Isis (@OpIceIsis) with 35.5 thousand followers. This an example of the ability of a single organization to infiltrate the public sphere outside of their physical geographic location, creating supporting and oppositional dialogue regarding their cause world-wide. ISIS has also taken to YouTube to publish promotional propagandist videos and also violent and tortuous ones serving as a threat to enemies. Al Hayat Media is the company that produces the ISIS videos; they employ impressive editing techniques that give the videos a theatrical component. Several of the videos and promotional adds have effects that resemble an action movie, however the content is extremely disturbing and cruel. ISIS even turned to the use of a publicly downloadable Google Play App, however that since been disbanded. When it comes to social media, ISIS knows what they are doing. Despite the cruelty of their mission and the secrecy of how their organization operates, they are able to convey a professional and legitimate facade, gaining both public support and opposition.