The Middle East Friendship Chart

For the interactive version, visit Slate.com on your desktop or tablet. Egypt’s military government has made cracking down on extremist groups in the Sinai Peninsula a priority, and the al-Qaida-inspired group Ansar Beyt al-Maqdis has emerged as the country’s most formidable terror threat. The two groups have been linked in the past and have a shared hostility toward Israel, but their ultimate goals are quite different. While nominally on the same side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Shiite Lebanese militia and the Sunni international terror network have found themselves on opposite sides of Syria’s brutal civil war. Despite their religious divide, Iran has allowed senior members of al-Qaida to operate from its territory in the past, particularly after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, but the civil war in Syria has seriously strained the relationship. Al-Qaida remains opposed to the U.S. Al-Qaida and its affiliates remain committed to the destruction of the Jewish state.

65 Terrific Social Media Infographics As you know, infographics are visual representations of information, data, or knowledge. They present complex concepts quickly and clearly, and communicate ideas in an easily understandable fashion. Last year, I assembled a collection of 35 infographics that told the story of social media at that time. That post proved to be so popular that I wanted to update it, including images that are still relevant and adding newer visualizations that illustrate more recent knowledge and insights into the social Web. Since social media marketing is a relatively recent addition to organizations’ integrated marketing communications plans, it’s imperative for marketing professionals to gain as much understanding as possible about how people leverage social media for everyday interaction. These snapshots communicate essential information to help marketers make sense of the social networking space and how people are using it in their everyday lives to communicate and share information and ideas.