The Islamic State (IS) last week released a video on Twitter showing captured Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh being burned alive. The release sparked outrage across the world's social media. Through the galvanizing details exhibited in the high-definition video, the world has once again learned how savage the terrorists are.

Coupled with the previous beheadings of two Japanese hostages and other gruesome acts widely circulated online, the extremists of IS are spreading horror to every corner of the planet.

It seems that the militant group is increasingly skilled at enhancing its influence through social media, an invention of Western civilization. Such a scenario may be ironic and embarrassing.

Most of those who have watched the brutal images released by IS must feel numb by seeing barbarity up close. With new media, the death cult can display their atrocities to shock and terrorize the public, hoping to prompt a reaction from global governments and attract new recruits.

Despite the raw horror, some Internet users who have watched the video still share the full footage or part of it, as if they could not help doing so. They have made it into GIF animations that have gone viral on different social media platforms.

Even some mainstream media outlets have joined them. Fox News posted every bit of the 22-minute film on its website, with the caption "Warning, extremely graphic video: ISIS burns hostage alive." Though most viewers denounced such macabre acts, each of them has facilitated IS in expanding its influence with each click of their mouse.

People were once convinced that social media would usher in a better Web2.0 era by allowing anyone to publish and forward information more freely and conveniently.

This would allow people to forge closer ties at lower communication cost, changing the rules of the game.

Presidential candidates are attaching more importance to social media because they believe proper use of it will help promote their clout, particularly by establishing or deepening connections with younger generations.

Unfortunately, IS also believes the same. With a wide variety of accounts and clever use of different services, they are no less slick than politicians in exploiting social media.

Even if Mark Zuckerberg has been told as early as 2004 when he launched Facebook that his website would one day be used by terrorist groups to gain new members, transmit grisly images and videos and send threatening messages, he might not have given up on creating such a platform.

But he would definitely have spent more time mulling what role social media should play in people's life and how to more effectively restrict its negative impacts, instead of making free expression an excuse for inaction.

In an era when extreme terrorists rely on social media to energize the worst fears of the public, some adjustments to social media platforms should be adopted before it is too late.

Wang Xiaonan, a freelance writer based in Beijing