Fighting, worrying and sharing: Operation ‘Protective Edge’ as the first WhatsApp war

Abstract

This study looks at the roles that WhatsApp, the popular smartphone application, played in the lives of Israeli citizens, who were exposed to war menaces during July 2014. During the war, WhatsApp became the subject of public, media, and political discourse, especially within the context of disseminating information related to combat – ‘authentic’ news items (before they were published in the media) alongside rumors that were devoid of factual basis. Research questions focused on the ways in which citizens used the application, the attributed effects of that usage on their lives, and the possible connections between proximity of residence to combat areas, patterns of usage, and perceived implications. Data are based on a representative survey of 500 Israeli citizens aged 16–75, all of whom are smartphone users (maximum sample error 4.5%). The survey was conducted during the third week of the military operation ‘Protective Edge’, which took place between Israel and Hamas in the summer of 2014. The authors’ findings suggest that WhatsApp played a central multi-functional role in the lives of its users during the wartime, functioning as a mass as well as interpersonal communication channel. Participants used the application on a daily basis for various purposes: getting news and updates regarding the war; checking on their loved ones; delivering humorous satirical messages; spreading war-related rumors; and helping to promote voluntary aid initiations. Users expressed their beliefs that the application enabled them to stay updated and ‘in the know’, helped them calm down, and deepened their communal and national sentiments. While findings regarding WhatsApp and similar applications usages have been collected for the last few years, this research exposes its centrality under extreme circumstances. Further on, this work suggests that WhatsApp may be thought of as a unique combination of mass and interpersonal communication channels.

The Anti-Social Network? Framing Social Media in Wartime

“…The study is limited by the fact that it examined press coverage and audience reception; it did not examine actual social media uses but rather their framing in the mainstream media. Hence, it is certainly possible that Facebook and WhatsApp campaigns for the residents of the South, soldiers, or their families gained significant public attention, and that satirical memes were also quite salient on Facebook and WhatsApp during the war (Malka et al, 2015). Such topics that reached a high place in the public's mind could not find a way to a respectable place in the agenda of the mainstream media.…”

“…According to a survey of the Israel Internet Society (2014), 39% of WhatsApp users learned through it about security events before they were publicized, while 37% confirmed that they forwarded classified information received through WhatsApp. Another study of Malka, Ariel, and Avidar (2015) conducted via a representative online panel indicates that 47% of Israelis used WhatsApp at least once a day to keep up with what was going on and over 36% did so several times a day. Overall, 38% reported they were involved in forwarding rumors at least once during the war.…”

“…Another channel that attracted significant interest during the war was Facebook, which on one hand was used to promote collaborative initiatives of civilians, for example, campaigns for purchasing products manufactured in the South, for recruitment of participants in funerals of soldiers without families, for visiting wounded soldiers in hospitals, organizing and sending packages to soldiers, and more (Malka et al, 2015). On the other hand, Facebook stood out due to the violent discourse that has developed on it and included very large amounts of verbal violence, calls for boycotts and "unfriendings" due to political disagreements (John & Dvir-Gvirsman, 2015).…”

“WhatsApp, Teacher?” - Student Perspectives on Teacher-Student WhatsApp Interactions in Secondary Schools

“…WhatsApp is used not only for exchanging information, but also for entertainment, and to keep in touch with friends and family (Malka, Ariel, & Avidar, 2015). Some (e.g., O'Hara, Massimi, Harper, Rubens, & Morris, 2014) view the motivation to use the application as stemming from its phatic function, that is, a desire to dwell with friends in an uninterrupted, open space of communication, even without exchanging important information.…”

“…It facilitates interactive, multimedia discourse with quick exchanges of text, images, audio, and video on people's mobile phones. WhatsApp's popularity has been attributed to the fact that it imitates face-to-face communication best and to the sense of immediacy it affords, as messages synchronously flow between group members (Malka, Ariel, & Avidar, 2015). WhatsApp groups functions as "micro communities" (Karapanos, Teixeira & Gouveia, 2016) and establish a sense of community space, where informal communication takes place between the members of the closed group.…”