How Social Media Is Changing Conflict

Published date01 October 2017
Date01 October 2017
DOI10.1177/0022002717721392
AuthorThomas Zeitzoff
Subject MatterArticles
Article
How Social Media Is
Changing Conflict
Thomas Zeitzoff
1
Abstract
Social media increasingly plays a role in conflict and contentious politics. Politicians,
leaders, insurgents, and protestors all have used it as a tool for communication. At
the same time, scholars have turned to social media as a source of new data on
conflict. I provide a framework for understanding social media’s influence on conflict
through four interrelated points: (1) social media reduces the costs of communi-
cation, (2) it increases the speed and dissemination of information, (3) scholars
should focus on the strategic interaction and competitive adaption of actors in
response to communication technology changes, and (4) the new data that social
media provides are not only an important resource, but also fundamentally change
the information available to conflict actors, thereby shaping the conflict itself. In sum,
social media’s influence on conflict defies simplistic explanations that argue that it
privileges incumbents or challengers.
Keywords
conflict, social media, repression, protest, radicalization, technology
Putting Social Media in Perspective
In the summer of 2014, the Salafi-jihadist group known as ISIS swept into western
Iraq from eastern Syria and captured the key Iraqi city of Mosul. Shortly thereafter,
ISIS declared a caliphate (see Wood 2015). The rise of ISIS in war-torn Iraq and
Syria is underscored by the group’s ability to recruit nearly 30,000 foreign fighters
1
School of Public Affairs, American University, Washington, DC, USA
Corresponding Author:
Thomas Zeitzoff, School of Public Affairs, American University, 4400 Mass AVE NW, Washington,
DC 20016, USA.
Email: zeitzoff@gmail.com
Journal of Conflict Resolution
2017, Vol. 61(9) 1970-1991
ªThe Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0022002717721392
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from over eighty countries (Benmelech and Klor 2016). Western countries are
particularly concerned about ISIS’s slick use of propaganda and social media to
recruit followers and inspire attacks in the West (see Koerner 2016).
Following anti-Russian and pro-Russian demonstr ations throughout 2013 and
2014, and the ouster of Russian-allie d Ukrainian President Viktor Yanu kovych,
Russian soldiers seized Crimea from Ukraine (see Treisman 2016). The eventual
annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and continued conflict in the Donbass region of
eastern Ukraine have coincided with Russia’s extensive use of misinformation as
well as cyberattacks against Ukraine to shape the Russian narrative (see Chen 2015;
MacFarquhar 2016).
Finally in November 2016, in one of the most surprising election results in US
history, businessman and political novice Donald Trump was elected President of
the United States over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Trump’s rise was
even more remarkable, given his lack of solid support within the Republican Party
establishment (see Flegenheimer and Barbaro 2016). Trump credited his use of the
social media platform, Twitter, with providing a way that he could “fight back”
against “unfair” stories, and that it helped “get the word out” to his supporters (see
Keith 2016). After the election, Trump has continued to use his Twitter feed to
articulate his policies as well as go after perceived rivals and enemies.
These three events—the rise of ISIS, the Russian occupation and annexation of
Crimea, and the election of President Trump—are three of the most important
geopolitical events of the twenty-first century. From ISIS’s use of social media to
target followers in the West and build their movement, to Russia’s use of cyber
warfare and misinformation, to Trump’s harnessing of Twitter as a campaign tool,
the use of social media has directly and indirectly played a prominent role in all three
of them. The use of social media as part of such prominent events has led many
scholars and policymakers to argue that social media matters (Howard 2010; Tufekci
and Wilson 2012). Yet, the key unanswe red question is how does social media
influence conflict and contentious politics and through what mechanisms is this
happening?
Following others, I define social media as a form of electronic communication
and networking sites that allows users to follow and share content (text, pictures,
videos, etc.) and ideas within an online community (Trottier and Fuchs 2015).
Prominent social media websites include Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, Instagram,
WhatsApp, and LinkedIn. Currently, there are over 1.8 billion active Facebook users
and over 300 million active Twitter users (see Internet World Stats 2017). Th is
number is expected to grow as more than 50 percent of the world’s population will
gain access to the Internet (mainly through mobile devices), and with the fast growth
across Africa and the developing world (see Parke 2016). Yet ordinary users are not
the only ones who have signed on to social media in large numbers. Savvy politi-
cians and leaders have also embraced social media. More than 75 percent of world
leaders have active social media presence on Twitter or Facebook (Barbera´ and
Zeitzoff Forthcoming). Increasingly scholars are also using social media data to
Zeitzoff 1971

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