Peculiarities of the content of modern Palestinian segment of social media

Abstract

The subject of this research is the Palestinian mass media. The object is the modern Palestinian segment of social networks. The goal lies in examination of peculiarities of the content of Palestinian segment of social media for the last decade. The author examines the Internet and social networks, their place in the modern Palestinian information space, content of the leading social networks that enjoy popularity among Palestinians. Analysis is conducted on the discourse of the Palestinian segment of social networks in the context of the attempts to establish pan-Palestinian dialogue, as well as in the context of Israeli–Palestinian conflict in recent years. The novelty of this work lies in examination of the content of social media through the prism of modern Palestinian theme. The conclusion is made that despite the territorial fragmentation and unsettled issue of creating the full-fledged Palestinian State at the current stage, the author claims the Palestinian information space in modern social networks. Palestine ranks high in the Arab world by the level of Internet and social media coverage. The most demanded Facebook and Twitter materials are the pages of the Palestinian pop singer and public figures who support the anti-Israeli discourse; YouTube is used mostly for entertainment content. The attempts to develop pan-Palestinian discourse in social networks achieved modest success in the mid-2010s. However, reaching the common agenda between leftist and Palestinians, as well as promotion of the content of Israeli authorities in social media, do not elicit response from the Palestinian audience. In the last two years, due to recurrent escalation of Israeli–Palestinian conflict, multidirectional discourses have prevailed in social media platforms, which testifies to aggravation of the Israeli–Palestinian information war.