FaceTime beats WhatsApp in Turkey’s failed coup

On the night of July 15, I had to cancel my plans to go out because I found myself running upstairs to hide from a group of rogue soldiers who raided my office.

Two captains and 10 privates, who were part of the coup attempt, landed their military helicopter in the parking lot of Hurriyet, Turkey's largest independent newspaper where I serve as the digital content coordinator. Armed with G3 assault rifles and hand grenades, they quickly subdued our security guards and entered the building after midnight.

"Do not hesitate to shoot," a captain told the privates and sent them to upper floors to round up my colleagues. Soldiers cleared the first floor and then moved up to the second where our digital operations are handled. Instead of surrendering instantly, I decided to go to the fifth floor, which was empty and dark at the time. It would be the perfect hiding place that would allow me to let the world see what was happening here.

Luckily, I knew how to broadcast live videos from Hurriyet's Facebook account, which has more than 2.6 million likes. In the following hour, I broadcast three videos that were viewed more than 500,000 times, showing how soldiers mistreated journalists and evacuated them at gunpoint.