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Social media have become one of the few places where young people from Armenia and Azerbaijan can meet, the Balcanicaucaso writes.

Because of the sensitivities of being seen to connect with the other side in the conflict, the Armenian and Azerbaijani teenagers chose not to use Facebook to remain in contact once they were back home from different forums.

“Such a situation was not surprising given the intensity of the information war conducted online and the monitoring of activity by security services. The same year, for example, Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, two online activists in Azerbaijan, were arrested, albeit for criticizing their government,” the article says.

The article recalls that on 1 March 2011, online Azerbaijani news site Qaynar.Info published the names of prominent activists and journalists in the country who had Armenian 'friends' on Facebook in an attempt to discredit them and to further engage in a campaign to warn citizens of the danger of social networking sites.

According to the article, in its 2009 household survey, 70 percent of respondents in Armenia said they were against forming friendships with Azerbaijanis while 97 percent of Azerbaijanis were opposed to friendship with Armenians.