Yutong Liu

Yutong Liu
Multimedia Writing
Dr. Erin McLaughlin
Annotated Bibliography
I.

Overview
My research topic concerns the role of social media in the growth and fight
against modern global terrorism, using twitter and ISIS as specific examples. In
my paper, I will explore the following questions: 1. How has ISIS used social
media platforms such as twitter to advocate its extremist ideology and terrorist
agenda; 2. What measures have been taken to fight against ISISs exploitation of
social media communities for its own agenda and what are the results of these
measures; 3. What future measures could be taken to fight against ISIS and other
terrorist groups exploitation of social media. The scope of this paper will cover
the interaction between ISIS and twitter community from the year 2000 to today,
but will especially focus on recent developments on the issue since 2014. The
paper will also attempt to draw more general trends and conclusion, not only on
ISIS and twitter, but also on the rise of the new form of global terrorism and social
media platforms as a whole. This paper is intended to inform social media
communities, social media companies, and government policy makers and help
them make more sound decisions in the fight against ISIS and global terrorism as
a whole. I am personally very interested in this project because it combines two
seemingly unrelated products of the 21st century global scale terrorism and
social media, both of which exerts great influence on the international community
today. And under the context of an international effort to fight against global
terrorism and the recent development of ISIS threatening the founders of

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Facebook and twitter for closing their accounts, I find it necessary, and extremely
II.

fascinating, to study the interactions between social media and terrorism.

Annotations
1. Berger, J. M., and Jonathan Morgan. "Defining and Describing the Population
of ISIS Supporters on Twitter." The Brookings Institution. N.p., 05 Mar. 2015.
Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
This paper is written by J.M. Berger and Jonathan Morgan. J.M. Berger
is a nonresident fellow with the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic
World at the Brookings Institute, and Jonathon is a technologist, and data
scientist. The intended audience of the paper is the academic studying ISIS
and authorities involved in the fight against ISIS. The papers purpose is to:
1. Create a demographic snapshot of ISIS supporters on Twitter using a very
large and accurate sample of accounts (addressed in sections 1 and 2 of this
paper); 2. Outline a methodology for discovering and defining relevant
accounts, to serve as a basis for future research using consistent comparison
data (section 3); 3. Create preliminary data and a path to further investigate
ISIS-supporting accounts suspended by Twitter and the effects of suspensions
(section 2.5). (Berger et. al, 2) The paper provides many observations on how
twitter is used by ISIS as a tool of communication, recruitment, and
propaganda. These observations are supported by data collected from the
twitter server and website. This source offers a unique look into my topic other
sources cannot provide the analysis of concrete data. It also overlap with
some of the points from my other sources especially on the issue of how ISIS
is using social media for its own benefit and what measures are effective
against ISIS on social networks. This sources overall quality is very good
since it is written by experts and based on concrete data collected directly

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from twitter. It is very useful to me since in provides concrete insights from

which I can draw my own conclusions from.
2. SINGER, P. W., and EMERSON BROOKING. "Terror on Twitter." Popular
Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. <http://www.popsci.com/terror-ontwitter-how-isis-is-taking-war-to-social-media>.
3. This article is written by P.W. Singer and Emerson Brooking from the website
popular science. The intended audience of the article is the normal internet
surfers who are interested in ISIS and its interactions with twitter. The work
responds to the growth of ISIS via social media, and the author takes an
objective/analytical stands on the matter. The purpose of the work is to attempt
to break down the different tactics used by ISIS on social media to achieve
their agenda of spreading terror. The article presumed the assumption that ISIS
is strategically using social network to spread terrorism, and uses content
released by ISIS on the internet as evidence to support its analysis. This source
overlaps with my other sources on analyzing how ISIS use social media for its
own gains. However, it provides a unique view point in that it does not
analyze the pattern of ISIS activity on social media, but approaches this topic
from a strategic analysis point of view. Therefore, although this source is not
from an academic institution or journal, it still offers my very valuable angles.
4. BBC Monitoring. "Twitter's Role in Modern Warfare - BBC News." BBC
News. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. <http://www.bbc.com/news/technology35842265>.
The author of this news article is not specified on the webpage. This
article is from a section of BBC called BBC Monitoring. BBC monitoring is
a subsection of BBC that is responsible for reports and analyses news from
TV, radio, web and print media around the world. (BBC Monitoring, 1) The
intended audience is the public that have access to internet. The article was

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published in March 2016 and therefore is responding to the recent

developments on the matter of ISIS and social media. The article takes an
analytical stand on the matter. The article tries to analyze the impact of ISISs
presence on twitter through citing the words of people involved, including the
CEO of twitter, researchers studying ISIS, and governmental officials. The
argument this article made was that ISIS on social media pose a threat to our
communities as much as ISIS troops on the ground. This is supported by the
testimonies of the involved individuals mentioned above. This source offers
yet another point of view on the matter of ISIS and social media the views of
directly involved individuals and an argument built on their testimonies. This
source is credible since it is from one of the larges news sources of the world,
and is very useful to me since it provides a new angle.
5. GREENBERG. JULIA GREENBERG, JULIA GREENBERG. JULIA. "Why
Facebook and Twitter Cant Just Wipe Out ISIS Online." Wired.com. Conde
Nast Digital, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
http://www.wired.com/2015/11/facebook-and-twitter-face-tough-choices-asisis-exploits-social-media/
This article is written by Julia Greenberg from Wired.com. The
intended audience of this article is the public. This article is response to the
debate on whether ISIS should simply be wipe out from social media. The
author asserts that wiping out ISIS would not solve the problem. The article
argues that Facebook and twitter cannot simply wipe out ISIS accounts. The
article cites word of officials from Facebook and twitter to support his
argument. It also uses the constitution of the US to support his argument,
specifically parts related to the freedom of speech. The source overlap with my
other sources in that it also discusses how we can fight against ISIS on social

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media, but it offers a new angle in that it opposes some of the measures that
are already being implemented. This source, although not from a major news
network, offer a brilliant point of counter argument for my paper.
6. Sorenson, D. S. (2014). Priming strategic communications: Countering the
appeal of ISIS. Parameters, 44(3), 25-36. Retrieved from
http://proxy.library.nd.edu/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com.proxy.library.nd.edu/docview/1628380469?
accountid=12874
This article is written by D.S. Sorenson for a political science journal
Parameters. The intended audience of this article is the political science
community and whoever is interested in ISIS and political science. The
author takes a negative stand on ISIS in an attempt to argue against
ISISs rhetoric using Islamist thinking. The article establishes several
arguments against the extremist rhetoric of ISIS and supports these
arguments with Islamic thinking (e.g. concepts within Islam and
testimonies given by Muslims). This article is unique among my
sources. It is the only one that focuses on arguing against ISIS
rhetoric. Being from a more academically oriented journal and offering
me insights on the methods we can use to neutralize ISIS work on
social media, this article is an invaluable source to my paper.