The Digital Manhunt for the Tsarnaevs: What Social Media Does and Doesn't Tell Us About the Suspects
While one brother was active on social media, the other was quiet.
April 19, 2013 — -- Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings who has died in a police shootout, has been called the more extroverted. However, on social media, it appeared that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, his younger brother, who was the focus of a manhunt on Friday, was much more outgoing.
Since being identified this morning as the suspects in Monday's bombings, many have been looking to find out more about the two brothers of Chechen descent.
Below is what ABC News has learned about the two suspects through social media channels.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of the two brothers, doesn't appear to have had a large digital footprint. However, a YouTube account tied to a Google account with his name was believed to be his. He didn't post any videos to the alleged account, but rather just liked and subscribed to other video channels, including a few Islamic-based channels and a playlist entitled "Terrorists."
PHOTOS: New Pics of the Boston Bombing Suspects
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a New England boxing champion. ABC News has obtained photos of him boxing at the at the Wai Kru Mixed Martial Arts center in April 2009 in Boston. You can read more information about him here.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was characterized as the extroverted brother by his former boxing coach, but it appears the younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was much more of the extrovert on social media.
The 19-year old, who went by Johar or Djohar on the sites, had a profile on VK.com, a Russian social media network. According to his profile, he was single and lived in Boston. Under the beliefs area of the profile he wrote that his worldview was Islam and that his personal priority was "career and money."
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was also apparently active on Twitter. According to a friend of Tsarnaev's and other evidence examined by ABC News' social desk, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's Twitter account appeared to be @J_tsar. Not only did the tweets reveal a lot about the man's interests, but it also appeared that he was active on Twitter after the explosions.
"I'm a stress free kind of guy," @J_tsar tweeted on Wednesday, April 17, at 12:26 a.m., two days after the bombing.
Last year, @J_tsar also tweeted about the Boston Marathon. "@therealAbdul_ boston marathon isn't a good place to smoke tho," he tweeted on Aug. 10, 2012.
He tweeted on Jan. 19, 2013: "To be honest, I don't care for those people that wanna commit suicide, your life b, do what you think will make you happy #selfishbastards."
Other tweets were much more lighthearted. For example: "Peanut butter, fluff and nutella #iwentthere," "MTV is garbage," "I hate these college desks, way too small to sleep on."
He also appeared to have had a SoundCloud account. His updates on the service were not public, but his profile photo showed him smirking with a pair of headphones around his neck.
Ailina Tsarnaev, the younger sister of the brothers, didn't appear to have a big social media footprint, either.
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