# Twitter for Terrorists Criminal Communication Through Microblogging By Marissa Brassfield | Published 2008-10-27 | Social Good Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/twitter-terrorist References: [news.cnet](http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10075487-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20) & [fas.org](http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/mobile.pdf) A draft of what is said to be an Army intelligence report explores the possibilities of terrorists using microblogging tools like [Twitter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/twitter-circle) to communicate and disseminate information across an interconnected network. According to CNET, the research that led to the report was collected using open-source intelligence, but the plausibility of terrorists using Twitter to openly communicate is troubling. It would be incredibly easy for terrorists and extreme activists to devise a code that utilizes everyday keywords, and Twitter's simple user interface makes [real-time mass dissemination](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/ai-reporting) far simpler than any text message. ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 2.0/10 - Popularity: 6% | Activity: 45% | Freshness: 8% - Audience gender: 50% men, 50% women - Primary generations: Millennial, Gen X - Top markets: North America, Europe ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Social Good](https://www.trendhunter.com/socialgood) > [Activism](https://www.trendhunter.com/activism) ## Key Themes ### Key Themes Behind This Trend - **Terrorist Use of Microblogging:** There is a growing trend of terrorists utilizing microblogging platforms like Twitter to communicate and share information, posing a significant challenge to security agencies. - **Code-based Communication:** As terrorists may devise codes using everyday keywords on microblogging platforms like Twitter, there is an opportunity for innovation in code-breaking and detection technologies. - **Real-time Mass Dissemination:** The simplicity of Twitter's user interface enables terrorists to rapidly and widely disseminate information, creating a need for advanced algorithms for real-time monitoring and content moderation. ### Where This Applies - **Security and Counterterrorism:** The security and counterterrorism industry must develop advanced monitoring tools and intelligence gathering techniques to counter the use of microblogging platforms by terrorists. - **Cybersecurity and Encryption:** The cybersecurity industry can explore opportunities to enhance encryption technologies and develop code-breaking algorithms to detect and decrypt terrorist communications on microblogging platforms. - **Social Media Monitoring and Content Moderation:** The social media monitoring and content moderation industry needs to invest in AI-driven solutions to swiftly detect and take down terrorist content on microblogging platforms like Twitter. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Private Social Media Features](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/twitter-circle.md) - [Censorship-Combatting Social Media Campaigns](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/operation-retweet.md) - [Social Copy Optimizers](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/tweetfast1.md) - [Creative Texting Tools](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/texttheinternet.md) - [AI Social Assistants](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/tweetlio.md) - [Social Media Tipping Features](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/social-media-tipping-features.md) - [Conversational Content Publishing](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/writerry.md) - [Social Media Shopping Features](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/twitter-shops.md) - [Social Media Feature Updates](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/home-and-latest-tweets.md)