Online Social Media in the Syria Conflict: Encompassing the Extremes and the In-Betweens

Authors:
Preprint
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The Syria conflict has been described as the most socially mediated in history, with online social media playing a particularly important role. In this paper, we analyze Twitter and YouTube activity of a range of protagonists to the conflict in an attempt to reveal additional insights into the relationships between them. Using a network representation that combines multiple data views, we uncover communities of accounts falling into four categories that broadly reflect the situation on the ground in Syria. A detailed analysis of selected communities within the anti-regime categories is provided, focusing on their central actors, preferred online platforms, and activity surrounding "real world" events. Our findings indicate that social media activity in Syria is considerably more convoluted than reported in many other studies of online political activism that find a straightforward polarization effect in operation.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: