We no longer have to rely solely on reports from a handful of mainstream media outlets when news breaks in places like Ukraine or Gaza, and while that has made the news environment more chaotic it has also led to some significant benefits for journalism.

Indian’s are displaying signs of a refreshed love affair with social networks, with data suggesting that Twitter and Facebook traffic has hit an all-time high. According to the latest roundup of figures from eMarketer in the US, 2013 brought an extraordinary 37% growth to the Indian market’s combined social networking tally.

The bruising battle between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has carved out a bloody new front in social media — one that has bypassed traditional news outlets and burned a straight path toward advocates on all sides.

Jews in Europe are facing a rising tide of anti-Semitism, as left-wing, right-wing and Islamic groups take to the streets to protest against Israel's military operation in Gaza.  There has been also been an explosion of anti-Semitic abuse on social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.

In this short clip, two Palestinian-Syrian girls in Toronto, Canada called on strangers to "hug a terrorist." Produced by the social media activist group Like for Syria, the video portrays two young girls hugging people to inform pedestrians about the escalating death toll in Gaza. They asked people for hugs, holding a banner that read “Hug A Terrorist” and recorded the reactions of people. 

With reference to Pakistan, our busy diplomats in the world’s power hub of Washington DC are gradually embracing social media but are not sufficiently trained to engage in debates on social media. That is unfortunate because social media has become the new public diplomacy tool and is far cheaper than the bloated budgets of fancy diplomatic events. In this age of rapid-fire peer-to-peer connectivity, the Pakistan embassy is still boxed in in the world of achingly slow government-to-government negotiations.