A consortium of researchers dedicated to improving the understanding of the human causes and consequences of terrorism

Social Media

Title Investigators Project Period
Comprehensive Testing of Imminent Threat Public Messages for Mobile Devices (MDP) Brooke Liu, Hamilton Bean, Marcus A. Boyd, Michele Wood -
Computational Modeling of Grievances and Political Instability Through Global Media Gary LaFree -
Developing Impact and Effectiveness Assessment Tool for Influence Operations Steve S. Sin, Ph.D. -
Mapping and Evaluating Online Salafi-Jihadism Arie Kruglanski, Jarret Brachman, Michele Gelfand -
Resources and Resilience: A Computational Model of Strategic Influence -
Social Media Influencers: Re-domaining Fashion Industry Forecasting to Anticipate Online Extremist Radicalization Barnett S. Koven, Ramon F. Brena -
Social Media Use during Disasters Brooke Liu -
Textual Analysis of Electronic Media Coverage of Homeland Security-Related Risks Lisa Keranen -
The Role of the Media in the Recruitment of Terrorists: Mass Communication and the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of Muslims in Indonesia Douglas M. McLeod -
Two to Tango: Government and Terrorist Group Actions in Colombia Barnett S. Koven -
Project Title Publication Date Publication Type
#JESUISPARIS?: An Appeal to Hypocrisy and Justifications for Mass Casualty Violence 2019-10-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
A Comparison of ISIS Foreign Fighters and Supporters Social Media Posts: An Exploratory Mixed-method Content Analysis 2019-11-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
A Practical Taxonomy for Online Terrorist Content 2021-07-01T12:00:00 Report
An Information, Motivation, and Behavioral Skills Perspective on Terrorist Propaganda 2019-08-01T12:00:00 Book Chapter
Beyond Image Repair: Suggestions for Crisis Communication Theory Development 2014-09-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Can taking down websites really stop terrorists and hate groups? 2017-09-01T12:00:00 Discussion Point
Choosing Where to Fight: Do Social Networks Distinguish American ISIS Foreign Fighters from ISIS-Inspired Terrorists? 2023-03-26T12:00:00 Journal Article
Clearing the Smoke and Breaking the Mirrors: Using Attitudinal Inoculation to Challenge Online Disinformation by Extremists 2020-09-01T12:00:00 Book Chapter
Comparing Social Media and Traditional Surveys Around the Boston Marathon Bombing 2016-04-01T12:00:00 Conference Paper
Crisis Information Seeking and Sharing (CISS): Scale Development for Measuring Publics’ Communicative Behavior in Social-Mediated Public Health Crises 2019-04-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Cultivating Trust and Perceptions of Source Credibility in Online Counternarratives Intended to Reduce Support for Terrorism 2018-04-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Data-Driven System Identification of the Social Network Dynamics in Online Postings of an Extremist Group 2016-06-01T12:00:00 Conference Paper
Digital Participation Roles of the Global Jihad: Social Media’s Role in Bringing Together Vulnerable Individuals and VEO Content 2018-03-01T12:00:00 White Paper
Disaster Warnings in Your Pocket: How Audiences Interpret Mobile Alerts for an Unfamiliar Hazard 2016-03-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Disentangling Social Media Influence in Crises: Testing a Four-factor Model of Social Media Influence with Large Data 2018-11-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Domestic Terrorism and Digital Media: Planning in Cyberspace 2019-08-01T12:00:00 Book Chapter
Encouraging and Assessing the Validity of Answers to Questions about Radicalization: The Use of Meta-opinions 2018-03-01T12:00:00 White Paper
Examining the Online Expression of Ideology among Far-Right Extremist Forum Users 2020-01-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Examining the Role of Social Media in Effective Crisis Management: The Effects of Crisis Origin, Information Form, and Source on Publics' Crisis Responses 2017-08-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
How Disaster Information Form, Source, Type, and Prior Disaster Exposure Affect Public Outcomes: Jumping on the Social Media Bandwagon? 2015-01-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
How does it feel to talk about Russia? Emotions and themes in Russia-related social media posts in Lithuania 2023-09-10T12:00:00 Journal Article
Influence-to-Action Model and Campaign/Narrative Impact Assessment Tool 2022-05-01T12:00:00 START Reports
Influence-to-Action Model Development: A Tool to Assess the Impact of Foreign Influence Operations 2021-12-01T12:00:00 START Reports
Instruments and Arrangements against Online Terrorism Relating to International Cooperation 2019-08-01T12:00:00 Book Chapter
Legal Restrictions and Challenges for Police and Law Enforcement Authorities 2019-08-01T12:00:00 Book Chapter
Legislation Specifically Targeting the Use of the Internet to Recruit Terrorists 2019-08-01T12:00:00 Book Chapter
Lethal Brands: How VEOs Build Reputations 2015-05-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Loners, Colleagues, or Peers? Assessing the Social Organization of Radicalization 2018-04-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Miscommunication during the Anthrax Attacks: How Events Reveal Organizational Failures 2007-01-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Narrative Persuasion and Violent Extremism: Foundations and Implications 2020-02-01T12:00:00 Book Chapter
Online Networks of the Italian and German Extreme Right: An Explorative Study with Social Network Analysis 2009-02-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Powers and Problems of Integrating Social Media Data with Public Health and Safety 2015-09-01T12:00:00 Conference Paper
Psychology and Morality of Political Extremists: Evidence from Twitter Language Analysis of Alt-right and Antifa 2019-05-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Retweeting Risk Communication: The Role of Threat and Efficacy 2018-08-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Rumor Response, Debunking Response, and Decision Makings of Misinformed Twitter Users during Disasters 2018-05-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Search Engines: Terrorism's Killer App 2008-07-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Social Media Use during Disasters Fact Sheet 2013-05-01T12:00:00 Project Fact Sheet
Social Media Use during Disasters: A Review of the Knowledge Base and Gaps 2012-12-01T12:00:00 START Reports
Strategic Uses of the Internet by Hizbut Tahrir-Indonesia 2009-05-01T12:00:00 Book Chapter
Taking Effective Risk and Crisis Communication for Granted? 2013-08-01T12:00:00 Discussion Point
Terrorist Propaganda After the Islamic State: Learning, Emulation, and Imitation 2019-12-01T12:00:00 Book Chapter
Terse Message Amplification in the Boston Bombing Response 2014-05-01T12:00:00 Conference Paper
The Online Caliphate: Internet Usage and ISIS Support in the Arab World 2019-05-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
The Paradox of Source Credibility in Canadian and U.S. Domestic Counterterrorism Communications 2018-04-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
The Scared, the Outraged, and the Anxious: How Crisis Emotions, Involvement, and Demographics Predict Publics' Conative Coping 2016-04-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
The Social-Meditated Crisis Communication (SMCC) Model: Identifying the Next Frontier 2020-12-01T12:00:00 Book Chapter
The Use of Social Media by United States Extremists 2018-07-01T12:00:00 Research Brief
Toward More Audience-Oriented Approaches to Crisis Communication and Social Media Research 2018-01-01T12:00:00 Book Chapter
Trends of Anashid Usage in Da‘esh Video Messaging and Implications for Identifying Terrorist Audio and Video 2019-01-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Triggered by Defeat or Victory? Assessing the Impact of Presidential Election Results on Extreme Right-Wing Mobilization Online 2020-08-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Understanding Motivated Publics during Disasters: Examining Message Functions, Frames, and Styles of Social Media Influentials and Followers 2019-10-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Using Google and Twitter to Measure, Validate and Understand Views about Religion across Africa 2019-06-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Vaccinating Against Hate: Using Attitudinal Inoculation to Confer Resistance to Persuasion by Extremist Propaganda 2019-11-01T12:00:00 Journal Article
Weaponized Words: The Strategic Role of Persuasion in Violent Radicalization and Counter-Radicalization 2020-06-01T12:00:00 Book
Title
Can verbal communication quell terrorist violence?
Computational Social Science: Understanding terrorist attacks on Twitter
Detecting deception
Discussion Point: Taking Effective Risk and Crisis Communication for Granted?
Farah Pandith explores how to defeat the extremist threat
Innovative START project wins UMD-TEC seed funding
Interns extend growing relationship between START and State Department
New Book: European and American Extreme Right Groups and the Internet
New report: Social media use during disasters
Risk communication researchers earn top paper awards
START Announces 2009-10 Terrorism Research Awards
START Announces Fellowships for 2005-06
START Director participates in Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) Global Summit
START formalizes commitment to Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism
START Investigators Participate in 2011 American Sociological Association Annual Conference
START Releases 2011 Research Review
START Research Brief: Al-Shabaab's use of Twitter
START researcher awarded top paper
START researchers awarded nearly $1 million to improve effectiveness of emergency alert text messaging
START researchers earn $2.6 million NSF grant to investigate social media’s ability to predict political instability
START researchers participate in Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) Global Summit
START to expand social media presence
START’s TRACC receives FEMA approval
Taken to extremes: Faculty Q&A with Michael Jensen
UMD researchers win $1.5M Minerva Grant to understand social media information campaigns
Unconventional Weapons and Technology (UWT) researchers present at 79th Midwest Political Science Association Conference
Unconventional Weapons and Technology team present research on influence operations at Laboratory for Analytic Sciences symposium
Under Secretary Sonenshine speaks to University of Maryland about State Department's public diplomacy successes
UWT director speaks about influence operations for Laboratory for Analytic Sciences podcast
Title Job Title Institution
person-default Alexandra Williams Junior Researcher University of Maryland
Amy landiorio Amy Iandiorio Researcher, GTD University of Maryland
Liu_Brooke Brooke Liu Professor of Communication and START Affiliated Faculty Member University of Maryland
Robert_Holly Holly Roberts Affiliated Faculty, Strategic Communications Lead at Akoya
Panyan Karina Panyan Research Assistant, Global Terrorism Database (GTD), START University of Maryland
kurt braddock Kurt Braddock Assistant Professor, American University American University
Erdemandi Max Erdemandi Ph.D. Student, Communication Science and Social Cognition University of Maryland
person-default Megan Rutter Researcher, START University of Maryland
person-default Rhyner Washburn Research Affiliate University of Maryland
Robert lamb Robert D. Lamb ICONS Director and Associate Research Scientist University of Maryland
Salma_Bouziani Salma Bouziani Project Manager/Researcher, START University of Maryland
sean doody Sean Doody Senior Researcher, START University of Maryland
Clark tyler Tyler A. Clark Data Scientist, Doctoral Student University of Maryland