NCJ Number
224499
Journal
Studies in Conflict & Terrorism Volume: 31 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2008 Pages: 641-654
Date Published
July 2008
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined whether there was a relationship between the number of fatalities caused by attacks of particular terrorist groups and the number of Web sites that were called up by putting the group’s name in the Google Internet search engine.
Abstract
The study found that as the number of fatalities attributed to a terrorist group increased, the number of Web pages cited for the group in a Google search increased. This suggests that the more violent a terrorist group, the more people are talking, reading, and posting information about the group. A group’s own Web site is only a part of the online sources of information on the group, as their violent deeds in the real world receive extended coverage on the World Wide Web. This facilitates a terrorist group’s mission of expanding its image of strength among potential recruits and perceived enemies, its commitment to violence against targeted populations, and the infliction of fear and anxiety in ever greater numbers of those perceived as its enemies. Using Google, researchers ran 414 searches, one for each of the terrorist groups listed by the database of the Oklahoma Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism. All of the searches were conducted in May 2005. The search terms, i.e., the name of each terrorist group, were entered into Google in English. 2 tables, 4 notes, and 44 references