Sentiments Toward the Islamic State on Twitter Across Canada
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Sentiments toward the Islamic State on Twitter across Canada Research has shown that terrorist and radical groups, such the Islamic State (IS), have begun to use Twitter for a variety of purposes. These purposes include: 1. The spreading of fear 2. The promotion of their cause/building sympathy 3. The recruitment of individuals The objective of this study was to assess whether the three previously mentioned goals of the IS on Twitter were being achieved within a Canadian context by answering the following questions: 1. Is fear of the IS being spread in Canada through Twitter? 2. Is sympathy for the IS and/or recruitment being achieved in Canada through Twitter? 3. What kind of themes are being presented by Canadians on Twitter pertaining to the IS? Background and Objective Fear and Violence For both the Netlytic and manual analysis, the feelings of fear and violence were highly present, with that category representing 28% and 25% of the tweets respectively. Anti-IS Sentiment Tweets overtly condemning the IS were rare. Analysis through Netlytic showed only 2% of tweets displayed this sentiments, whereas the manual coding showed a slight increase at 8% of tweets. However, feelings of sympathy or signs of recruitment were also not present. Islamophobia vs Anti-Islamophobia Results showed a higher percentage (25%) of tweets either promoted Islam or condemned Islamophobia compared to the percentage (17%) of tweets that promoted Islamophobia. Results Question 1: It was found that feelings of fear and violence were being spread more prominently on Twitter in Canada than other sentiments that were identified. Question 2: Little indication of sympathy or recruitment was identified through the tweets. A large percentage of tweets showed support for Islam, however, this was not viewed as support for the IS in any way, but instead was assumed as backlash to the Islamophobia present. Question 3: Of the tweets analyzed, the highest percentage pertained to violence and the fear of IS attacks. There were also relatively high percentages of tweets regarding both Islamophobia/Anti-Immigration and Anti- Islamophobia/Pro-Islam. Attack on Brussels On March 22, the IS claimed responsibility for an attack on Brussels which took the lives of 32 civilians. After this attack, spikes were seen in the amount tweets pertaining to fear and violence, condemning the IS, and military/political commentary. Discussion Breakdown of Fear sen.ment keywords Daniel Gouthro School of Information Management • Netlytic was used to capture tweets across Canada. • Tweets were captured using hashtags and keywords • 963 tweets were captured and analyzed. • Sentiment analysis was performed on the tweets through Netlytic as well as manually using Excel. • Through the manual analysis, any tweets deemed unrelated were removed. Methodology Breakdown of tweet sen.ment through Netly.c Acknowledgements Many thanks to Dr. Sandra Toze along with my fellow members of INFO 6682 for guidance and support throughout this process. References Beck, C. J. & Miner, E.(2013). Who Gets Designated a Terrorist and Why?Social Forces 91(3), 837-872. Oxford University Press. Retrieved January 29, 2016, from Project MUSE. David Drissel (2015) Reframing the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan: new communication and mobilization strategies for the Twitter generation, Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 7:2, 97-128, DOI: 10.1080/19434472.2014.986496 Klausen, J. (2015). Tweeting the Jihad: Social Media Networks of Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 38:1, 1-22. Rothenberger,L. (2012). Terrorist Groups: Using Internet and Social Media for Disseminating Ideas. New Tools for Promoting Political Change. Revista Română De Comunicare şi Relaţii Publice, 14(3), 7-23. Siboni, G., Cohen, D., & Koren, T. (2015). The Islamic State’s strategy in cyberspace. Military and Strategic Affairs, 7(1), 127-144. Conclusion and Further Study • Tweets about fear and violence caused by the IS are being spread on Twitter within Canada. • Very little sympathy or recruitment for the IS was present, however further research outside of the English language would be useful. • Further study on pro-Islam and Islamophobic sentiments on Twitter should be considered.
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Transcript of Sentiments Toward the Islamic State on Twitter Across Canada
Sentiments toward the Islamic State �on Twitter across Canada�
���Research has shown that terrorist and radical groups, such the Islamic State (IS), have begun to use Twitter for a variety of purposes. These purposes include: ��1. The spreading of fear�2. The promotion of their cause/building sympathy�3. The recruitment of individuals �
The objective of this study was to assess whether the three previously mentioned goals of the IS on Twitter were being achieved within a Canadian context by answering the following questions:��1. Is fear of the IS being spread in Canada through Twitter?�2. Is sympathy for the IS and/or recruitment being achieved in
Canada through Twitter?�3. What kind of themes are being presented by Canadians on
Twitter pertaining to the IS?��
Background and Objective�
���Fear and Violence�For both the Netlytic and manual analysis, the feelings of fear and violence were highly present, with that category representing 28% and 25% of the tweets respectively.���Anti-IS Sentiment�Tweets overtly condemning the IS were rare. Analysis through Netlytic showed only 2% of tweets displayed this sentiments, whereas the manual coding showed a slight increase at 8% of tweets. However, feelings of sympathy or signs of recruitment were also not present.��Islamophobia vs Anti-Islamophobia�Results showed a higher percentage (25%) of tweets either promoted Islam or condemned Islamophobia compared to the percentage (17%) of tweets that promoted Islamophobia.�
Results�
���Question 1:�It was found that feelings of fear and violence were being spread more prominently on Twitter in Canada than other sentiments that were identified. ��Question 2:�Little indication of sympathy or recruitment was identified through the tweets. A large percentage of tweets showed support for Islam, however, this was not viewed as support for the IS in any way, but instead was assumed as backlash to the Islamophobia present.��Question 3:�Of the tweets analyzed, the highest percentage pertained to violence and the fear of IS attacks. There were also relatively high percentages of tweets regarding both Islamophobia/Anti-Immigration and Anti-Islamophobia/Pro-Islam.��Attack on Brussels�On March 22, the IS claimed responsibility for an attack on Brussels which took the lives of 32 civilians. After this attack, spikes were seen in the amount tweets pertaining to fear and violence, condemning the IS, and military/political commentary.�
Discussion�
BreakdownofFearsen.mentkeywords
����
Daniel Gouthro�School of Information Management�
���• Netlytic was used to capture tweets across Canada.�• Tweets were captured using hashtags and keywords�• 963 tweets were captured and analyzed.�• Sentiment analysis was performed on the tweets through Netlytic
as well as manually using Excel.�• Through the manual analysis, any tweets deemed unrelated were
removed.�
Methodology�
Breakdownoftweetsen.mentthroughNetly.c
����
Acknowledgements��Many thanks to Dr. Sandra Toze along with my fellow members of INFO 6682 for guidance and support throughout this process.�
References�Beck, C. J. & Miner, E.(2013). Who Gets Designated a Terrorist and Why?Social Forces 91(3), 837-872. Oxford University Press. Retrieved January 29, 2016, from Project MUSE. David Drissel (2015) Reframing the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan: new communication and mobilization strategies for the Twitter generation, Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 7:2, 97-128, DOI: 10.1080/19434472.2014.986496�Klausen, J. (2015). Tweeting the Jihad: Social Media Networks of Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 38:1, 1-22. �Rothenberger,L. (2012). Terrorist Groups: Using Internet and Social Media for Disseminating Ideas. New Tools for Promoting Political Change. Revista Română De Comunicare şi Relaţii Publice, 14(3), 7-23.�Siboni, G., Cohen, D., & Koren, T. (2015). The Islamic State’s strategy in cyberspace. Military and Strategic Affairs, 7(1), 127-144.�
Conclusion and Further Study�• Tweets about fear and violence caused by the IS are being spread
on Twitter within Canada.�• Very little sympathy or recruitment for the IS was present,
however further research outside of the English language would be useful.�
• Further study on pro-Islam and Islamophobic sentiments on Twitter should be considered.�
