TerrorismISIS and al-Qaeda use social media, Web platforms differently to achieve different ends

ISIS web presence more likely to go viral // Source: guancha.cn

The Internet has contributed to the popularity of both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) among would-be jihadists, but the two terror groups use social media and Web platforms differently. Al-Qaeda has been spreading its message via the Internet for nearly two decades, while ISIS is a relative newcomer. Both groups use social media to recruit fighters, but ISIS has successfully developed content that Internet users are likely to share and repost. Such content in the form of violent videos and graphic imagery target young, disillusioned Westerners who are prime for radicalization.

According to the National Journal, the increasing number of views and shares of ISIS videos on Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook directly correlates with the growing number of foreign fighters that continue to join its ranks. Al-Qaeda relies on more traditional Web platforms like Web sites and forums, according to Gabriel Weimann, a professor of communication at Haifa University, Israel, who studies terrorists’ use of the Internet.

Weimann notes that while ISIS seeks to recruit foreign fighters to defend its captured territories in Syria and Iraq, al-Qaeda focuses on recruiting “lone-wolf” terrorists to carry out terror attacks against Western targets. Al-Qaeda’s online magazine, Inspire, publishes articles like “Car Bombs Inside America” to attract lone-wolf jihadists. The magazine is responsible for instructing the Boston Marathon bombers on how to build the pressure-cooker bombs that exploded at the marathon’s finish line. “Yes, the brothers have been inspired by Inspire,” the publication’s editor-in-chief Yahya Ibrahim wrote after the bombings. “This is not only because Inspire offers bomb recipes, but also because of the contents of the magazine as a whole.”

The content of videos and text published by al-Qaeda and ISIS also differs in that ISIS glorifies violence against all opponents, Muslim or non-Muslim, whereas al-Qaeda is more restrained. “They had red lines,” Weimann said. “I know it sounds crazy to say controlled, but it was controlled by Bin Laden. The violence was targeting targets that were chosen, selected, even in a rational way.” Weimann notes that since al-Qaeda is more focused on fighting Western influence, while gaining Muslim support, it is less likely to publicized videos and images of terror committed against local Muslim communities. ISIS on the other hand considers all attention to be good attention. “The message there is revenge, the message is success, the message there is power,” Weimann said.

The sense of power and glory exemplified in ISIS videos has proven to be effective for recruiting radicalized young Western men to fight on behalf of ISIS. The imagery is well produced in a Hollywood-esque fashion, complete with pyrotechnics and voiceovers, to target young Westerners. “The Islamic state is going for a much more visceral appeal,” said William McCants, a Brookings Institution fellow and director of the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World. Al-Qaeda’s videos tend to be more informative, with the group’s leaders lecturing would-be jihadists on why they must continue to fight against Western influence. Such videos are less exciting to young jihadists than those shared by ISIS, but while ISIS’s campaign of fear and recognition has gained more media attention in recent months than al-Qaeda, Weimann predicts that al-Qaeda will outlast ISIS, as its network is much wider and more deeply rooted.