Recently one of Somalia’s militant Islamist groups, al-Shabab, has embraced Twitter in an attempt to gain a digital voice and combat their opponents.

This is a significant and strange development for Twitter and social media as a whole.

Some African nations (specifically Kenya) have used Twitter to announce and denounce events and opposition but it still feels very peculiar to see a militant rebel group use the same mainstream tactic.

Maybe the issue is optics as we label these groups as rebel, yet social media is a tool for all and tends feature more “fluff”. Amidst all the lightness, there have been polarizing figures that have come to Twiiter, but none of this nature.

For awhile, al-Shabab has been locked in a military battle with Kenya, and overall they control much of southern and central Somalia. Does it not strike you as odd they have the time and strategic marketing foundation to even consider social media as a proper conduit to further their cause?

The real question is what do they hope to gain? Their fight is localized and their existence and actions controversial so it seems the broad reach of social media would have not necessarily have a profound affect on their day-to-day operations.

Their tweets have mainly been about their opinion of Kenya’s military failure in Somalia. On the surface, it doesn’t look like they plan on communicating much else.

Many believe this will compel other militant groups to take to social media. Based on the current al-Shabab model, I don’t see this happening at this juncture.

It’s possible that al-Shabab was compelled by the active Twitter account of Kenyan military personnel, but the cause does not always justify the means. The difficult part is that outside of Kenya, the world might not take to the complexity of the situation throughout Twitter.

It’ll be interesting to see this develop, and what the fallout will be. For now, the consequences exists but the action isn’t leaving a pronounced mark on the social media world beyond raising a few eyebrows.