5  Conclusion

This project offered a look into how Reddit users discussed and engaged with the Israel-Hamas conflict during its escalation in October 2023. By examining submission volumes, user activity, and conversation dynamics, we uncovered key trends that align with major real-world events. The sustained high levels of activity in subsequent weeks reflected ongoing interest in the conflict, with patterns suggesting that a small but active subset of users drove much of the engagement. Additionally, our analysis of subreddit dynamics revealed how communities with different focuses contributed uniquely to the discussion.

Despite its strengths, the project had several limitations. The dataset included missing values for text fields in submissions and comments, likely due to deleted or removed content, which constrained certain types of analysis, such as sentiment or text-based topic modeling. Moreover, resampling the data to handle size limitations, while preserving trends, reduced the granularity of analysis in some areas. Another limitation was the inherent bias in subreddit activity, as discussions in smaller, niche communities may not reflect broader public opinion.

Looking ahead, future work could address these limitations by exploring other platforms like Twitter or Instagram to compare engagement trends across different demographics. Expanding the timeframe to capture post-conflict developments or including additional attributes, such as user geolocation or language, could provide deeper insights into the global reach and influence of such discussions.

This project reinforced several lessons. First, real-world events have a profound and immediate impact on online activity, offering a unique window into public sentiment and engagement. Second, working with large datasets requires robust preprocessing techniques and thoughtful resampling strategies to balance performance and accuracy. Finally, visualising data allowed us to simplify complex trends and make data accessible, enabling a clearer understanding of how social media platforms like Reddit influence modern political and geopolitical discourse.