Middle East: social media used for good and bad

Alongside the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIS) battlefield successes in northern Iraq, the group has deployed a sophisticated social media strategy that is redefining its propaganda.

Since the offensive began on 9 June, a string of Twitter accounts claiming to represent ISIS in Iraq and Syria have been active in providing live updates on the group’s operations and images illustrating their advances.

Although the accounts have not been officially endorsed by ISIS, they have been widely promoted as official regional ISIS accounts by the group’s many online supporters.

ISIS has launched a social media campaign and is posting (mainly on Twitter) photos and statements to highlight its military strength and territorial advances in Iraq.

For full story see: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27912569

Pray for Christians to use social media to share hope and truth. Presently there is a campaign designed to reach young people and challenge the way they think. Using Facebook they have named of this Facebook page in Arabic using a play on a well known Muslim group and theology that sees the entire society as apostate words with the name of a and calls it to forsake its sinful ways. Its aim is to trap people’s minds into the traditions of their religion and prophet, and reprobating them if they try to think or act differently. With the swapping of only two letters in the name of this radical group comes the name of this page, which literally means ‘thinking and abandoning your old ways’, quite the opposite of what this Muslim group calls for. It explores freedom of thought from traditional restrictions upon investigating new ideas.

Social media can be used in different ways. Pray for good to come from this.