Tracking the Islamic State group on Twitter

Getting updates on the Islamic State group through Twitter often depends on what hashtag you use. If you want insight into how fighters and supporters think, search with #islamicstate, #is or #khilafah. If you want to see a more critical approach, search for #ISIS - the former name of the IS group.

Below are accounts for researchers and activists  who mainly tweet in English. Following news about the IS through social media is a fluid business - Twitter often deletes pro-IS accounts due to their content.

al-Araby al-Jadeed has no editorial responsibility for the opinions expressed on any of these links.

@Raqqa_SI is the account of activists who run a "Syrian people's campaign against ISIS in Raqqa", the stronghold of the group in Syria. The account offers incredible insight into life in the city and is updated every day.

#Raqqa video from Raqqa to Alsaa Square shows the life in the city after airstikes #exclusive #today #ISIS http://t.co/Sv6z2CyWZQ

— الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_Sl) September 29, 2014

@MosulEye was created by an "independent historian inside Mosul", and one of only a few accounts that relays information in English about this IS-controlled city in northern Iraq. The author also runs a blog: http://mosuleye.wordpress.com

Mosul Eye is back: why Mosul doesn't fight back? http://t.co/T17ge2UC1x

— Mosul Eye (@MosulEye) September 19, 2014

@RudawEnglish describes itself as the leading English-language source of news for Kurds and Kurdish affairs. It is based in Irbil in the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq and has produced some great work on fighting between IS and Kurdish Peshmerga. This account is written from a Kurdish perspective.

Rudaw correspondent: #Kurdish forces cleared six more villages near Tuz #Khurmatu today without any causalities from Kurdish forces.

— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) October 1, 2014

@ShamiWitness says he writes about "Bilad ash-Sham [the Levant], Sunni revolutions, economic collapse, post-industrial society, technology, history." He has good insight on IS military updates and runs a blog: http://shamiwitness.blogspot.co.uk/

#Breaking #IS storming the famed(or notorious,hated by other clans) Shami Palace of Sahwa clan Albu Risha in Ramadi . #Anbar #Iraq

— Shami Witness (@ShamiWitness) October 2, 2014

@zaidbenjamin is a journalist based in Washington, who works for Radio Sawa. He is quick to report IS activity and news from the Middle East. An account worth following.

Al-Mqdad al-Sharouri, #ISIS fighter from #Yemen, says he was freed by #Turkey in exchange for #Mosul diplomats pic.twitter.com/Beqgdf4NMo

— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) October 2, 2014

@ajaltamimi is the account of Aymenn al-Tamimi, a young Oxford graduate who follows violent jihadi movements. He is often quoted in the Financial Times and other media outlets but has been criticised for being close to his sources in Syria. 

#Syria: Apparently,regime forces fired 10 rockets on an IS-controlled village in Homs province, but 8 did not explode pic.twitter.com/rjsdIQVHNA

— Aymenn J Al-Tamimi (@ajaltamimi) October 2, 2014

@Charles_Lister is currently a visiting fellow at Brookings Doha Centre who has written extensively on the Syrian civil war and the various groups doing the fighting.

Activists report that ISIS positions at the Conoco gas field in Deir ez Zour have just been targeted by airstrikes. #Syria

— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) September 28, 2014

@cwhooper is the account of Charlie Cooper, who researches jihadism in Syria and Iraq at the Quilliam Foundation in London.

Reports coming in that #IS has captured city of Hīt, north west of #Ramadi in #Anbar.

— Charlie Cooper (@cwhcooper) October 2, 2014