Often credited for sparking the Arab Spring, social media has played a huge role in recent political dissent. Facebook and Twitter have become crucial tools in organized protest, even seeing popularity in the Occupy Movements here in the U.S. While both sides are taking to social media to voice their angst, protestors in Syria have been sharing their struggles on the social network Instagram.
For those of you unfamiliar with the app, Instagram is a photo-sharing application that allows you to edit, share, and comment on photos from your mobile device. In its infancy, it was exclusively for the iPhone, but it's sharp spike in popularity forced developers to adapt the app to Android phones. Back in April, the app was bought by Facebook for $1 billion, the full effects of which we have yet to see.
But while we post pictures of pizza and palm trees on Instagram, Syrians and their sympathizers are using as a the photo-sharing app as a political tool; as a way to share their revolution with the rest of the world.
In a series of 32 images, BuzzFeed has aggregated some of the best photos posted with the hashtag #Syria #freesyria #liberation and #assad. Some are gruesome, some are joyful, and just like the photos that show up on my newsfeed, some are of food.