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Social Media Takes Center Stage in Gaza War

Posted by Kristen Nicole on December 31st, 2008 11:43 AM

-Israel Consulate Twitter Account Screenshot-Israel is going for a more informative tactic with its coverage of the war its fighting against Hamas militants in Gaza, and its using social media as one of its main forms of increasing its transparency, reports Times Online. After receiving a great deal of flack from not doing so during the 2006 attack on Hezbollah strongholds in Southern Lebanon, Israel realized that the Internet too can be a powerful weapon.

At least in the realm of PR and global perceptions.

Days after sending aircraft out to strike Hamas militants in Gaza, the Israeli government is launching a curated channel on YouTube and multiple Twitter streams in order to participate better in the blogosphere. Yesterday, followers of “israelconsulate” on Twitter could view live coverage updates of a citizen press conference held in order to further disseminate information regarding Israel’s stance on the war. Another Twitter stream tracks where Qassam rockets are falling in Israel.

Since online social media has become a powerful platform for citizen journalism and nearly every other form of published media including traditional journalism, many factions of governmental institutions have taken to the blogosphere and social networks for the same reasons of getting the word out. There are countless examples of political leaders, such as Barak Obama, leveraging YouTube, Twitter and even MySpace for gaining support and spreading a message.

But can social media be used by Israel as more than just a PR move? When engaging in conversations with the likes of Twitter followers, it’s evident that Israel not only cares about sending out its message, but answering as many questions as possible. PR move or not, such interaction (albeit virtual) can have a strong effect on attitudes citizens have towards a government entity.

As Twitter is already a very powerful tool for spreading news in real time, thanks to all the Twitter users that share news as they receive it themselves, I think it’s rather important for the government and political leaders to take advantage of the conversations that are already taking place. Even with today’s Twitter coverage of the press conference through “israelconsulate” it’s clear that Israel is turning to social media not just to spread information but to answer questions and participate in the existing conversations that run so rampant on Twitter and other social media platforms.

Not all efforts have come from Israel though. A less organized group of individuals have been active on Twitter, reporting from Gaza about the impact on Palestinian residents. There has also been some support from Al Jazeera who has set up their own Twitter account for reporting Twitter activities as well. It’s clear that the PR war is fierce no matter what way you’re trying to spin the story. Last time around, the opinion appeared to fall in favor of those against Israel.

This time both sides are leveraging social media heavily to try to win the war over public opinion. It will be interesting to see how it pans out this time around.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 11:43 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 5 Comments

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    and that is not all,
    you can read on more social media efforts here: http://www.nivcalderon.com/help-israel-on-socia...
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    Good post Kristen. The PR battle in this political issue has been waging for a long time - social media represents the newest place it is being waged.

    Israel has to do a better job of answering questions and responding to concerns. Maybe by listening they will be better positioned to understand the concerns of Western audiences and use that to inform what and how they deliver their messages.
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    Why US and European governments give the tax where people pay, to Israel to do these war crimes and associate their nations in blood of women and innocent children? Hamas was selected with Palestine nation vote. Why Israel surrounds Gaza and don't let wounded persons receive food and drug? Isn't Israel a occupier?? Isn't this an unfair war? Who has equipped Israel with F16 warplane?
    I think Democracy and Human rights is a big lie in West.
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    I think that we as Muslims and Arabs need to adress the Western viewer as much as we can. Its our loss that we see horrible and inhumane images every day of the Israeli barbaric war and the crimes it commits in Gaza while in the Western channels the image of such things is totally neglected or underestimated. The western media is biased and thats known as we knw who controls the media over there. but i think if the West sees what we see in our channels, i believe lots of people, sides and nations will change their position toward Israel. Israel is a very smart and powerful power it knws how to lie and believe its lie and make others believe it as well. They manupilate many people but i think they r discovered now and their ugly face is not hidden anymore. our rich men and lords should supply channels that are adressed solely to the West and show them the images the Arab world see daily, it is then the world would believe the crulity of Israel the zionist state.
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    palestine is all muslims and arab open unhealed wound , we really need to talk to all western and american people , the ordinary people who just like us , its time for them to know about the true story of palestine , its simply an arabic land in the middle of the middle east , and it belongs to arab and muslims , israel is an occupation and it will end eventually no matter time this will take as all occupations in history , its a holly land and the price for freedom will be high , israel is using all sort of help and support it can get for its survival in the region , through american tax payers , double standared biased media , controlling men in power positions , so clever and so wicked , if israel as a state has the right to survive and live in peace and defend their citizins as all american presidents claim , so why not you americans give them piece of your lands in the united state so they can live in peace with you americans , you have plenty of empty open lands where they can built their settelments and breed , people of palestine have the right to get back their stolen lands and broken lives by any means as any human will do in same place , their lands were taken , their homes were demolished , their kids were murdered in front of all the world , starved and humeliated for more than 60 years .... then labbeld as terrorists , what a catastrophic lie the whole world believes and supports , its israels war against starved deprived prissoned frustrated griefing civilians in the name of america against terrorists and america human rights ... what a bloody lie....what a sad world we live in now .....

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