The Communicating and Marketing of Radicalism: A Case Study of ISIS and Cyber Recruitment

This article considers social media as a radicalization venue within the context of terrorism. The 2016 extremist/terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida showed the potential of an ISIS type extremist organization to leverage social media toward a lethal outcome within American society. While the ISIS organization originated overseas in a culture of which mainstream American society is unfamiliar, it is in many ways remarkable the level of success they quickly achieved connecting globally. Their efforts reflect the potential of social media to market a message of radicalism worldwide toward generating murderous converts who are willing to travel to join the fight or attack at home. Given these notions, this article considers the use of social media as an extremist cyber-recruitment tool.