Social Media, Open Architectures, and Ideological Rationality: A Profile of the Islamic State

• In Event: Terrorism: Multi Perspectives

Abstract

This paper examines the narrative space of the Islamic State (IS). Specifically, we developed a methodology to gather, archive, and analyze IS’s online presence in social media. We collected approximately 2.8 million tweets and associated web links/transient webpages. From this pool, we coded a random sample of 100 English-only articles for violent, pragmatic, and ideological themes. Exploratory factor analyses revealed two constructs: violence and ideological rationality. Our findings offer insight on how to better categorize and interpret violent extremist messages, information, and propaganda. We conclude with implications and future directions.

Authors

• Karyn Sporer, University of Maine

• Julia Fuller, University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Sam Church, University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Doug Derrick, University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Gina Ligon, University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Pete Simi, Chapman University