People tweeting in support of ISIS typically use Android phones, according to a new study of the group’s social media habits.
Researchers with the Brookings Institution found that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its followers have established a massive presence on Twitter.
The popular social network is believed to host up to 70,000 pro-ISIS accounts, twenty percent of which are updated in English, according to the study.
While the number represents only a handful of Twitter’s 288 million users, it is clear to researchers that the Islamic State is focused on using social media to recruit followers and spread its message.
The study is not the first time scholars have considered the significance of ISIS’s efforts online.
The group is notorious for posting gruesome execution videos that become fodder for headlines around the world after going viral. Some of the films appear to the work of skilled videographers and editors, more evidence that ISIS wants to appear professional in showing itself to the world.
The Brookings study included several details that shed light on ISIS’s use of social media.
More people in the group use Android tweeting platforms (69 percent), as opposed to programs designed for iPhone (30 percent) or Blackberry (1 percent).
Additionally, most of the tweets in support of the group come from users in Syria and Iraq.
Twitter has come under pressure to do more to erase ISIS from its networks. The company says it is taking down thousands of ISIS-related accounts every week, but some experts wonder whether this strategy could backfire by further alienating users with jihadist sympathies.
“While suspensions appear to have created obstacles to supporters joining ISIS’s social network, they also isolate ISIS supporters online,” the study stated.
Part of the power of ISIS’s Twitter presence is the high volume of the messages posted by followers. Between 500 and 2,000 ISIS-affiliated accounts post regularly and create messages with the potential to go viral, according to the study.
“This activity, more than any other, drives the success of ISIS’s efforts to promulgate its message on social media,” researchers said.
“Short, prolonged bursts of activity cause hashtags to trend, resulting in third-party aggregation and insertion of tweeted content into search results.”
Followers of the group have made it clear that they won’t abide Twitter’s attempts to silence their message.
Last weekend, ISIS supporters threatened to kill Twitter employees and the company’s co-founder Jack Dorsey in response to the suspension of their accounts.
“How will you protect your helpless employees, Jack, when their necks become a target for soldiers of the Caliphate and supporters scattered in your midst?” stated a post on JustPaste.it, a text-sharing website.
ISIS sympathizers have also hacked social media accounts belonging to the U.S. Central Command, Newsweek magazine and the wife of a U.S. marine.
