Part of why ISIS has thrived in social media is that it follows the model of what has worked best for leading online figures and brands. According to Haroro J. Ingram, an expert on insurgent information operations at Australian National University, they are “more strategic plagiarists than geniuses.” Islamic State Dabiq / Alamy Stock Photo 1. HAVE A CONSISTENT BRAND Just as the Star Wars branding is consistent on the big screen or on a Happy Meal, so too is the Islamic State’s. The ISIS flag is extremely easy to draw and reproduce: monochromatic with two simple slogans: “There is…
Author: Richard
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INSTAGRAMMING THE CALIPHATE Many social-media accounts exist to highlight the lighter side of life in ISIS, trying to build its online image. The most bizarre might be “Cats of Jihad,” which gave ISIS fighters a chance to pose their cats with their guns. Rather than a centralized master plan or single person in charge, the Islamic State’s social media campaign is networked, reflecting the networked nature of the space. The core of ISIS is seasoned veterans of the Iraqi insurgency that followed the 2003 U.S. invasion. Well versed in the power of the media, they have been joined by a…
WHen the militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh) descended on the Iraqi city of Mosul in June 2014, they didn’t just march into town—they simultaneously launched a Twitter hashtag campaign, #AllEyesonISIS. It was blitzkrieg with a digital marketing strategy. Within hours, images of ISIS barbarity spread throughout the Arab world, sowing fear among Mosul’s residents and defenders. The social-media campaign gave an air of inevitability to the looming seizure of the city, and the atrocities that would follow. Despite the fact that they outnumbered the attacking ISIS force by 15-to-1, the Iraqi army…
Ed Sheeran ‘taking break’ from social media-Image1 Ed Sheeran Ed Sheeran is “taking a break” from social media. The ‘Thinking Out Loud’ hitmaker wrapped up the last night of his tour yesterday (12.12.15) and has revealed he will be taking a hiatus from his phone, emails and Twitter so he stops “seeing the world through a screen” for a while. Taking to his Instagram account, he wrote: “Hello all. I’m taking a break from my phone, emails and all social media for a while, I’ve had such an amazing ride over the last five years but I find myself seeing…
Stop smoking campaigns do everything possible to deter or stop youth from taking up the habit. Youth now live in a digital era and health providers are tasked with the challenge of connecting with them through social media. It’s a challenge Counties Mankuau Health has taken on board and today at the Mangere Arts centre, they’ve launched their first social media exhibition. Over six weeks the social media campaign ‘Snapped Out” has enagaged over 3000 followers via Snapchat and Facebook. CM Health Portfolio manager for Smokefree, Summer Hawke says “We wanted this project to be rangatahi driven, our conventional approaches weren’t…
Nigerians protested Tuesday at the National Assemblyagainst a bill they say would punish those who criticizeofficials and politicians on social media. Critics say the bill attacks free speech and violates theconstitution. But Senate leaders say critics do not understand theproposed legislation. Social media and text messaging services likeWhatsapp are popular in Nigeria both forcommunication and for spreading news. Mausi Segun is an expert on Nigeria and works forHuman Rights Watch. She said the bill was written to “stifle, and to have a chilling effect on, freedom ofspeech.” Segun said the bill would give officials the power to fineor jail people…
File photo: K. Bhagya Prakash Close to 500 URLs of social media websites were blocked in 2015 (till November 30) under Section 69A of the IT Act, a manifold jump compared to the last two years, Parliament was informed on Friday. “A total of 13, 10 and 492 URLs of social media websites were blocked in 2013, 2014 and 2015 (till November 30), respectively under Section 69A through the Committee constituted under the rules therein,” Minister of Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Friday. Further, a total of 533, 432…
On 1 December, nature decided to drop 30cm of rain in a 24-hour period over Chennai. It was the heaviest downpour Chennai experienced in a century, and the city and its people were haplessly unprepared for the record deluge. I live close to a suburb that has the Tamil word for lake (Eri) in its name, so flooding is not uncommon because water tends to have this terribly annoying habit of nodding its head to gravity at every chance it gets. Yet, the story of the latest flood is not a simple linear narrative of callous government officials, poor urban…
Illustration: Mihir Balantrapu Social media rose to help a rain-battered Chennai. But it was also used for tasteless self-promotion, writes AKILA KANNADASAN The floods gave rise to three kinds of people: those that immediately jumped into the field for relief work; those that used social media to help the affected; and those that took part in relief work just so they could look good on social media. The third kind worked tirelessly over the last one week to document every act of kindness they did, and put it up on Facebook for the world to see and ‘like’. Facebook was…
A Minnesota man was charged Friday with threatening FBI agents on social media after the arrest of a friend on charges of conspiring to help ISIS, and authorities say the man had hopes himself of traveling to Syria. Khaalid Adam Abdulkadir, 19, posted two separate threats on Twitter after the arrest of his friend, Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame, 20, of Eagan, according to a criminal complaint. He was charged with one felony count of impending and retaliating against a federal law enforcement officer. FBI agents arrested Abdulkadir on Friday. Abdulkadir, of Minneapolis, wrote messages that included the words “kill them FBI”…