JSPES, Vol. 44, No. 3-4 (Fall-Winter 2019)
pp. 222-230

Analyzing Iraqi Social Settings After ISIS: Individual Interactions in Social Networks   

Basim Mahmood, Zainab Younis, Wael Hadeed University of Mosul, Mosul, IRAQ

Recent years have witnessed a revolution in the social communication. Nowadays, millions of people are connected through different kinds of social networks where they discuss multiple aspects of their life including business, economical, social, religious, educational, and political subjects. These interactions have a direct effect on attitudes in many communities. In the past few years, social networks in Iraq have experienced the sectarian war among the major Iraqi sects (e.g., Sunni, Shia, and Kurd). After the war against ISIS, it can be argued that Iraqis have changed their attitude on social networks (and in the real world). Therefore, in this article, we will investigate the contents of Iraqi’s most popular Facebook pages and see if ideology has changed over the past few years. We also aim to reveal untitled current patterns of interaction among people in their respective provinces. Moreover, we survey the most frequent topics discussed by Iraqi Facebook users, and find that attitudes have changed for the better through discussions on social networks since the war.