Freaked out by Mideast militarization of social media? Don't be

Let's not act so shocked if Frankenstein's invention is on the loose.

A couple of days ago the Israel Defense Forces began live-tweeting as the newest round of hostilities broke out along Israel's already hot border with Gaza. The IDF Twitter stream included the video recording of a missile attack that killed Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari, along with an in your face taunt: "We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead." For its part, the military wing of Hamas used its own Twitter feed to offer the Palestinian narrative of the story, naturally castigating Israel's "most inhuman army" for killing "civilians, kids, women and elders."

In other words, while the bullets and bombs are flying, a second war is getting carried out -- on social media.

The only surprise is that it's taken as long as it has to reach this point.

Let's recall that this wasn't the first time a nation's army has made use of Twitter to supplement a military campaign. Last November, in fact, Kenya tweeted out evacuation warnings to Somali villagers prior to carrying out a cross-border bombing cam... [Read more]