Sunday, July 20, 2014

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Remixed And Retweeted : All Tech Considered : NPR

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Remixed And Retweeted : All Tech Considered : NPR



The deadly war in the Gaza Strip and Israel is being fought with rockets and guns. It's also being fought with tweets and viral videos.
Propaganda has always been a part of conflict; social media has expanded the battlefield.

Alooshe thinks of himself as a soldier in the new media war against Hamas. 
There's no question that Hamas has stepped up its Internet game from the last conflict.

There are trained soldiers in this social media war: The official English Twitter account for the Israeli military has more than 300,000 followers.

In this war, social media is also letting people communicate directly with their enemy.

Technology saturates every aspect of this war. Not just drones and missile defense shields, but mundane things like war smartphone apps that include flashlights, radios and emergency numbers.
During NPR's interview with Alooshe in Tel Aviv, an air raid siren went off. We dashed to the shelter in his apartment building, where he insisted we take a selfie.
"I must take a picture, you know?" he said.
As soon as the siren stopped, he uploaded the picture to Twitter and Facebook. Then he used the chat service WhatsApp to make sure everyone in his family was safe.

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