ISIS or The Islamic State is one of the most extreme terrorist group this world has ever seen. ISIS was founded in 1999 by a group of Islamic extremists, but only in the past couple of years has it become widely known. The group is led mainly by Sunni muslims, who are mostly from Iraq and Syria. Based on data from March of last year, the group is estimated to control territory across Iraq and Syria in which millions live. Most recently, groups from Libya, Afghanistan, and as of a few weeks ago, Nigeria have joined forces with the Islamic State.
The group has followers around the world. Using modern-day technology, the Islamic state uses social media to recruit people across the world. Through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, ISIS gains the attention of people all ages, races and recruits them to join their jihadist movement.
ISIS reaches people globally by broadcasting propaganda videos online that are created by a group called Al Hayat, the PR side of ISIS. This group makes videos using high-tech drones and GoPro cameras in a professional and dramatic way.
As part of my research for this article, I watched several of these recruitment videos. One video profiled an American woman who is now one of the most influential women in the movement. She started as an American journalism student from Seattle, Washington. She was opposed to the biased reporting of American journalists, so she decided to join ISIS. She, along with a few other women, is responsible for recruiting people through social media. I was not able to find her real name, nor a picture of her, but her handle on Twitter is widely available.
If you go to YouTube and look up ISIS recruitment videos you will find thousands. They are usually in Arabic, but have English subtitles. The videos typically show a member of ISIS in the desert holding some sort of a weapon and talking about why you should join God and help "your brothers in Islam." These videos have been very successful in recruiting people to ISIS. They appeal to people of all different races and make war seem glamorous and the cause glorious.
