ISIS

Social media is a form of communication used globally by people of all kinds. Oftentimes, it holds meaningless content posted by teenagers but recently a terrorist group by the name of ISIS decided to also get on board. ISIS is a malicious terrorist group that continues to expand and kill. Social media is a highly influential tool used by ISIS to promote their goals.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS, is a militant group that uses violence and heinous messages to gain supporters. Originating from the Middle East, they spread their influence all over the world. With an overall goal to be noticed and joined, ISIS seems to be accomplishing just that. They are responsible for the many ruthless attacks on random, innocent people.
By posting vulgar videos, people begin to fear what ISIS is truly capable of and that gives the group its power. The militant group wants people to feel inferior because that is what gives them control. Videos of mass executions and beheadings linger onto the internet for days and continue to get more views each day (Fisher and Prucha). As people continue to keep up with ISIS over social media, they begin to witness more of what the group does and begin to fear them even more. Is ISIS truly able to hurt them? Ruqia Hassan Mohammed was a girl who actively used social media and spoke out against ISIS. Because she had so many twitter followers, ISIS needed to step up and shut her down to let others know that they will not tolerate being spoken ill of. She was later murdered and hacked. ISIS militants used her account to seek out and end more people that went against their beliefs (Pitel). By using her as an example, ISIS put more people in line. If people are not joining ISIS, they are certainly not left to belittle them. When ISIS targets people randomly, it kicks in the fear factor where people worry if they are next. Their gory videos are watched enough times so that even if they are taken off the internet, people will still remember the horror (Talbot). The terrorists that took part in the Paris attack claim that they carried out their plan after
Because ISIS targets mainly young (they are easily influenced) and distant (they want to cut family ties) people, what better place than on social media to find them? The recruitment process is quite easy. ISIS members look into their social media accounts until they spot a potential member. Patiently working their way up, the terrorist first becomes a friend, and then slowly radicalizes the person and gets him or her to join (Masi). By getting people to join online, it leaves the risk of travelling and getting caught by the police out. It is a more efficient way to gain supporters that are spread out all over the world. Militant leaders use western recruits as role models and publicize them in order to get others to also join their fight (Masi). If people begin to realize that there are other people living in the same area as them who have decided to join the cause, it will most likely influence them to also get on board with the idea to join. On social media, the group claims to help the “lost” or “misguided” people by giving them a purpose to their lives (Hahn). The internet consists mainly of angry teenagers wanting to change the world. Once they see what this group can do for some, they want it too. That is when ISIS militants directly message and begin to persuade people. Using social media to recruit people online is beneficial