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The Social Media Decision: Why Some Terrorist Organizations Choose to Build and Utilize a Social Media Presence and Others Do Not

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The Social Media Decision: Why Some Terrorist Organizations Choose to Build and Utilize a Social Media Presence and Others Do Not University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2019 The Social Media Decision: Why Some Terrorist Organizations Choose to Build and Utilize a Social Media Presence and Others Do Not Justin Robert Kinney University of Tennessee, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation Kinney, Justin Robert, "The Social Media Decision: Why Some Terrorist Organizations Choose to Build and Utilize a Social Media Presence and Others Do Not. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2019. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/5686 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Justin Robert Kinney entitled "The Social Media Decision: Why Some Terrorist Organizations Choose to Build and Utilize a Social Media Presence and Others Do Not." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Political Science. Brandon C. Prins, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Krista E. Wiegand, Gary Uzonyi, Nicholas W. Geidner Accepted for the Council: Dixie L. Thompson Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) The Social Media Decision: Why Some Terrorist Organizations Choose to Build and Utilize a Social Media Presence and Others Do Not A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Justin Robert Kinney August 2019 ii Copyright (c) 2019 by Justin Robert Kinney All rights reserved. iii Dedication To my Mom and Dad, thank you for all of your love and support. You have always been there for me and encouraged me to aim high, to reach for the stars. You taught me to work hard, to stand up for what’s important in life, to chase my dreams, and to believe in myself. I wouldn’t be half the man I am today without you. To Rebecca, my sister, who always gave me the emotional support and confidence in me that only a sibling can give. I’m so proud of you and feel so blessed to have had you as my sister and best friend throughout my life. And above all, to God be all glory. There’s nothing I could accomplish without Him. iv Acknowledgements Thank you to Dr. Brandon Prins for his guidance and advice through this project. The time and effort he devoted was instrumental in helping me succeed and grow. Thank you also to Dr. Krista Wiegand, Dr. Gary Uzonyi, and Dr. Nicholas Geidner for agreeing to sit on my committee and for your contributions in providing suggestions, advice, and constructive critiques. Without your continued support throughout this program, I would never have succeeded in making it this far. Thank you to my classmates, colleagues, and professors in the Political Science Department. It’s been a real comfort and boost to go through this process alongside all of you. I am extremely grateful for all of your encouragement and assistance, both professionally and personally. Thank you all for making graduate school enjoyable. I wish you the best of luck! Thank you to my friends. Your faith in me and reassurance along the way was very needed and much appreciated. I have grown tremendously these last several years and I have you to thank. There are too many to name individually, but you have become my community and like family. You all keep me grounded and upbeat when I get stressed, with your support, humor, and perspective and for that, I will always be grateful. Finally, thank you again to my family. I would never be in this position without you. v Abstract Traditionally, radicalization was accomplished through isolation from society, in a small, personal, hands-on setting. But today, some groups have embraced social media platforms to reach and radicalize new supporters and recruits. This modern tool is an opportunity to reach more individuals in a manner that is less costly, easier, and less time-consuming. This has opened the process, allowing for both “direct recruiting”, targeting selected individuals, and “indirect recruiting”, loading material online and allowing it to spread to cause a form of self- radicalization in those who encounter it. This would seem beneficial for all rebel groups. If you successfully recruit even a few fighters or supporters through a low-cost process, it would be worthwhile to take advantage of that. Yet, we don’t see this occurring at the rate one would expect from such a low-cost, high-benefit approach. Certain groups—such as the Islamic State— have built an online presence and embraced social media, but others choose not to, or maintain a low presence. This presents a puzzle: which group actors choose to create and use social media as a radicalization and recruitment tool and which do not? What factors or characteristics determine this decision? This research project investigates the usage of social media as a strategic tactic by terrorist groups. We see certain groups embrace the tactic, to varying degrees, and others do not. So what types of groups choose to utilize this tool? Is there some component or trait of groups that can explain and/or predict the choice to create a social media presence? And if they have a presence, is there some component(s) that explains and predicts their level of social media activity? I propose several factors play important roles in this decision: ideological identity, recruitment opportunities through alliance networks, and competition or outbidding behavior spurred by the existence of rival groups. Testable hypotheses are derived from these factors and are tested on a dataset of 25 organizations from 2006 to 2016, then through three case studies on individual groups. The analysis reveals statistically significant support for all three variables and their relationship to social media engagement. vi Table of Contents General Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 Social Media Concerns ................................................................................................................3 Chapter One: Literature ...............................................................................................................7 Introduction ......................................................................................................................7 Terrorism..........................................................................................................................8 History and Context .............................................................................................8 Traditional Methods .........................................................................................................12 Previous Models...................................................................................................12 Traditional Radicalization & Recruitment ...........................................................14 Online Platform Literature ...............................................................................................19 Introduction ..........................................................................................................19 Social Media Purpose & Strategy ........................................................................20 Social Networking & Movements .......................................................................24 Technology Adoption ..........................................................................................26 Social Media Usage by Terrorists ........................................................................29 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................33 Chapter Two: Theory ...................................................................................................................35 The Puzzle ........................................................................................................................35 Identity .............................................................................................................................39 Alliance Networks ...........................................................................................................45 Rivalries ...........................................................................................................................49 Chapter Three: Research Design .................................................................................................55 Introduction ......................................................................................................................55 Group Selection ...............................................................................................................56 Dependent Variables ........................................................................................................59 Independent Variables .....................................................................................................62
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