The Islamic State’s information warfare: Measuring the success of ISIS’s online strategy

Siegel, Alexandra A.; Tucker, Joshua A.

doi:10.1075/jlp.17005.sie

Article published In: Re/constructing Politics Through Social & Online Media: Discourses, ideologies, and mediated political practices
Edited by Michał Krzyżanowski and Joshua A. Tucker
[Journal of Language and Politics 17:2] 2018
► pp. 258–280

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The Islamic State’s information warfare

Measuring the success of ISIS’s online strategy

Alexandra A. Siegel | New York University

Joshua A. Tucker | New York University

Published online: 18 October 2017

https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.17005.sie

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Islamic State, ISIS, social media

Article outline

Introduction
1.The Islamic State’s information warfare strategy
2.Evaluating ISIS’s success in the online sphere
- 2.1Measuring and evaluating “Core” ISIS account activity on Twitter
- 2.2Measuring ISIS’s reach and resonance on Twitter
- 2.3Measuring ISIS’s reach and resonance on Youtube
3.Conclusions
Acknowledgements
Notes
References

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