Behind the Scenes of the Israeli Protests: The buzz on social networks

From the Press
Calcalist | August 21, 2011 | Assaf Gilad

More than five weeks into the social protest, the data displayed on the computer screen of Asaf Shtekler, cofounder of the company tracx, is quite impressive. According to him, a quarter million "unique visitors" so far have actively taken part in online conversation about the social protest in Israel. When Shtekler says "taken part in", he is primarily referring to the widespread activity on the social networks, ranging from a simple click on "Like" or a Twitter “retweet” to a status update on Facebook.

In recent weeks, tracx, which monitors and analyzes exposure and public opinion on the social networks, has volunteered its services to the organizers of the "Home is a Tent" protest. "This data is amazing, but we estimate that there is actually a much greater number involved, because many people block their Facebook wall," Shtekler explains.

According to him, in the last month 150,000 posts have been made on the topic, including articles on news sites, blog posts and Facebook status updates. But what is really astonishing is the log of over half a million interactions – the landslide of responses to those original posts.