Israel/Gaza, as seen by four social networks

[agrumer]

How four social networks inform me about the current Israel/Gaza conflict, in order of where I first started seeing things:

• Facebook: Shares of pro-Israel/anti-Gaza graphics, some of them direct Israeli Defense Force propaganda with the identifying logo at the bottom. All of the sharers are personally known to me, and all are Jewish. Most (maybe

Comments

[agrumer]

Is it possible that Google+ presents its "favours RPGs" face to you, because that's the community you seem to have settled into there?

Not only do I think it's possible, I even said as much: "[…] no doubt shaped by my particular use of those networks, and thus possibly not truly representative […]"

[barking_iguana]

Yes, I haven't wanted to take the time to write in detail. I'm one of the folks who posted a pro-Israel piece (the the least baggage-laden post I ran across) and partially disclaimed the last line of it. I've also been arguing with zealots on both sides on their posts and mine, spending even more time than I would have had I written mine and then gone away.

I don't know if the IDF logo actually means it's put out by the IDF or just someone saying they support them. Mine, in any case, was from some political group I'm skeptical of.

[agrumer]

Oh, right, you shared that piece by Michael Melchior. I'd forgotten about that.

The graphics I saw passed around include this one and this one. Those were both posted on the IDF's Facebook page.

[kent_allard_jr]

Also, Facebook is where Mom and your boss occasionally come by for coffee. It's closer to "public space" than anywhere else on the Internet. (Obviously most of the Internet is public to a degree, but I feel Facebook is more so because my whole social network hangs out there.) I try to be polite and only post the least snarky, most factually-grounded political posts I can stand. I don't know if FB politics is crap because it's so widely used, or because only the shameless and loudmouthed feel comfortable putting angry political rants up for the grandmothers to read. (No offense intended, of course, for those friends of mine who DO post angry political rants on FB.)

[agrumer]

Yeah, Facebook has the highest concentration of people I follow out of some sense of social obligation, rather than interest.