1. How ISIS conquered social media?
Since the dawn of time, humans have used their unquenchable curiosity and ingenuity to devise
the best tools and tactics to subdue their foes in the art of war. Every part of society had its
strictly determined role towards this common goal: scientists discovered the latest technologies,
engineers built new machinery and equipment, while the clergy provided moral support and
divine help for the ferocious armies. During the antiquity, new devices like trebuchets, ballistas or
catapults have helped shape the borders of many empires. More recently, the use of the
telegraph was decisive during the 1853-1856 Crimean War, while the American development of
the atomic bomb was vital to the rapid demise of Japan during the final stages of World War II.
In the current information age, where easy Internet access is becoming available in every part of
the world, the same principles apply, although the tools are just not as bulky as tanks or
catapults. The vastly popular social media platforms are the perfect tools to promote extremist
ideas, gather intelligence and, more importantly, recruit new members. On the other hand,
content rich and media websites work on a different, more dangerous level. They can shape the
minds and influence new fighters on an emotional and personal level. Video sharing websites,
like YouTube or LiveLeak have hundreds of millions of viewers daily and their ability to change
and influence people is mind-blowing, to say the least.
An unexpected user on this channel, the jihadist extremist group ISIS (or more recently IS), looks
like a professional film crew when it comes to video production and editing. Their Hollywood-like
videos are packed with state of the art techniques, have high-definition video quality and
impressive sound effects. Featuring gimmicks such as slow motion explosions, high-definition
images, president Obama speeches, footage of American tanks, and Iraqi prisoners being
marched to prison, the videos have a tremendous effect on the more susceptible youth. The
titles and tag lines are also excellently chosen, with commercial idioms, like “Flames of War” or
trailer-like tricks such as “Coming Soon”. Surprisingly, some videos produced by the ISIS group
also resemble techniques used by popular video games, including aerial shots and footage
created by remote controlled drones.
An obvious question arises: Are these efforts focused towards a greater cause? What does ISIS
want to communicate with the help of their movie quality promotional videos? Many say that ISIS
uses its highly skilled film crews to create inspiring videos that cater for the Western world. They
hope to make some headway, by penetrating the West with Hollywood inspired action flicks.
And it looks like this tactic works: newsrooms around the world are watching in awe as this
brutal jihadist group takes under its control large swathes of Iraq and Syria with little effort. To
further prove how serious ISIS is, they created a special media company that produces videos in
tens of languages, promoting them on multiple video sharing websites. Also, the fact that their
videos are of Hollywood quality, shows that ISIS as a group is up to date with the latest
technology advances, it does understand the Western world and fully grasps the intricate details
of video marketing. After all, this is what they are aiming for - a constructive, effective and top-notch
video marketing campaign to influence prospective fighters across the world.
