Trolling New Media: Violent Extremist Groups Recruiting Through Social Media

Abstract

With the advent and subsequent growth of several new media technologies, violent extremist groups have incorporated social media into recruiting strategies. How are violent extremist groups using social media for recruiting? This thesis explores several new media technologies websites, blogs, social media, mobile phones, and online gaming to determine if violent extremist groups rely on social media for recruiting. By comparing the communication of al Qaeda and ISIS, this thesis concludes that violent extremist groups rely on social media, and they employ a wide range of new media technologies to attract and recruit new members. In some instances, virtual interaction still requires face-to-face communication to adequately recruit someone into a violent extremist group.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2015
Accession Number
ADA631977

Entities

People

  • Mark D. Chang

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Computers
  • Counterterrorism
  • Information Operations
  • International Relations
  • Mobile Devices
  • Mobile Phones
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Recreation
  • Smartphones
  • Social Media
  • Social Networking Services
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • Video Games

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.