The Global Twittersphere Discusses Gaza

This article was originally published on Global Voices Online.

Twitter is the new blogging, or so the story goes. Never has that been more apparent than in times of crisis: During the Mumbai attacks, Twitter users provided up-to-the-minute coverage, and today, as Israeli airstrikes continue to hit Gaza, the Twittersphere is deep in discussion.

Twitter users utilize hashtags to aggregate their content; users can then go to Twitter Search and look for content on a particular subject. In this case, the most utilized hashtag is #gaza, while #gazawarofwords is tracking media bias. A search for other hashtags being used to discuss Gaza brings up #israel, #syria, #baghdad, #2states, and #rafah, among others. Users also "re-tweet" information from other users in an effort to disseminate it quickly; an example:

The real-time shelisrael, a Twitter user in California, noted early on yesterday that Twitter is one of the first platforms to enable such open discussion:

Since that point, the world has been engaged in sometimes healthy debate, other times expressing rage, and most importantly, reporting news; the following example includes participants from Palestine, Mauritania, and San Francisco (US):

The nature of the discussion provokes heated questions and arguments. skinner, from Oxford, UK via Amman, Jordan, asks:

YaelBeeri, an Israeli Twitter user, points out the diversity of opinion in the Twittersphere:

Another fascinating feature of the Twitter discussion is the analysis of media coverage. #gazawarofwords, a hashtag started by Twitter user weddady, provides a central point of aggregation for such reporting:

The best way to follow Twitter updates is by looking to the source; Twitter Search RSS feeds for any hashtag or search term (e.g. #gaza) and participating is easy.

Follow Jillian York on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jilliancyork

Comments

[Rollingstoner]

It was just a matter of time until Israel the nation let the other shoe drop after bleeding so much from Islamist attacks a few years ago. But the tweetosphere is hardly a tool for public diplomacy. Way too self centered to be anything else but knee-jerk reactive. Discussing Gaza on Twitter in 140 characters or less is like discussing it in a crack house because Twitter is as addictive as crack and one only need go to the neurochemical studies to prove it. Like jogging and endorpins. And all the Silicon Valley slicks who are pimping Twitter, try your Hans and Franz number on a high tech toy that has a serious business plan and doesn't lose big money by paying to forward "tweets" to cell phones. Obama's communications crew dumped Twitter the day after the election. They know what time it is.

[R.W. Sanders - Huffpost Blogger]

I don't like bombs. Period. Even smart bombs do significant collateral damage. But that being said, I wonder how many twitter responders were even old enough to comprehend the happenings of 9/11. Do they remember that these very Gaza residents are the same people who were dancing in the streets celebrating our losses on 9/11? There is much video proof to substantiate this. While people mourned world wide, Palestinians in the Gaza danced and partied like it was 1999. As much as I pride myself on being forgiving, I can't get their celebrations out of my mind. There was something inhuman in their actions.

[LilPuppy]

Understandable since your country gives Isreal the weapons to kill them and your goverment gives Isreal a blank cheque over whatever crimes they commit against these people.....really wake up and look in the mirror then ask why does the world hate us?? Hmmm how soon they forget the ghetto's of warsaw or they liked them so much they decided to subjuct the residents of gaza to one

[TerrapinCB]

How about the 5 isr@elis dancing and taking pictures in NY when the towers were hit? Seems like the old double standard here.

According to ABC’s 20/20, when the van belonging to the cheering Israelis was stopped by the police, the driver of the van, Sivan Kurzberg, told the officers:
"We are Israelis. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are your problem." (10)

Why did he feel that Palestinians were a problem for the NYPD?

The police and FBI field agents became very suspicious when they found maps of the city with certain places highlighted, box cutters (the same items that the hijackers supposedly used), $4700 cash stuffed in a sock, and foreign passports. Police also told the Bergen Record that bomb sniffing dogs were brought to the van and that they reacted as if they had smelled explosives. (11)

[jeffepops]

The "5 dancing Israelis" myth (does your keyboard lack an "a" key, or do you just not know how to speak ISRAEL?) has long gone the way of the Loch Ness monster and other urban legends. There does exist extensive video footage of Palestinians dancing in the streets following the terrorist attack on the WTC on 9/11. Is this what you are referring to?

[BottomLine2008]

A twitasphere?

[jeffepops]

Yes, just what we need. An even more shallow, less reliable source of information.