The most populare Hashtag in @twitter history is #JeSuisCharlie http://t.co/vfKXllJk1G ” via @alexandre_comte pic.twitter.com/REe7zrsMXE
— Elijah J. Magnier (@EjmAlrai) January 9, 2015
In lieu of a BBC Trending article on the subject...
Besides being an interesting phenomenon, I think the extraordinary popularity of the hashtag also says something about who are real friends are.
Besides Europe, Israel, the U.S., Canada and Australia, it's gratifying to see strong bursts of support for the hashtag in Colombia, the Caribbean and the central band of South American (including Brazil).
In the Far East, South Korea, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand and Papua New Guinea are giving it their backing. As are parts of India.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Africa's strongest support comes from Nigeria, though there's also a strong burst of support from what I take to be Mauritius and pockets of support from southern Africa, plus Kenya.
These are, on the whole, our expected friends.
Much of the Muslim World (from Indonesia to Bangadesh and Pakistan to the Arab heartlands) remains resolutely unfriendly...
...with some intriguing exceptions. A couple of Gulf states are tweeting the hashtag strongly (Bahrain and the UAE, by the looks of it). Morocco seems sympathetic. The Maldives appear pleasingly active too. And there's a fascinating spike of support from Libya.
Well it confirms what we knew. It also confirms me in the belief we should have taken the opportunity post 9-11 - when it was there - to form a World Democratic Alliance of the nations to trade with each other, to raise people out of poverty, to co-operate militarily and to defend democratic values.
ReplyDeleteDan Read
It does seem a confirmation of the obvious, but they are a few less obvious things. What's the reason for the blip of support from Libya? Can those people be helped (even given what we've done to put them where they are today)?
DeleteMaybe that opportunity can still be taken advantage of, Dan, if this map is as revealing as it seems to be. The good guys are still out there, potentially ready to be drawn together.