It's silly season in Israel:
well, in some ways, it's ALWAYS silly season here, but particularly from around
mid-August to mid-October, NOTHING gets done. Except a lot of eating, some
Fasting, a lot more eating, traveling "chutz l'aretz", more eating,
but business (?), work (?) - faggedabowdid!
Of course August is when
everybody leaves Israel to take their precious offspring to Euro Disney, Turkey
wonderland (oh, not any more, sorry...), trekking in Africa, on a burger binge
in the US - just so the little ones will have enough stuff to brag about when
they get back to school on September 1 - or is that September 2 or 3 or 4? -
depending on the length of the annual teachers' strike - WHAT!?? No strike this
year??? What is happening? And this year, was the "Summer of Love" in
Israel, well, mainly Tel Aviv, with happy campers occupying the White City's
most elegant boulevard in their highly successful (so far...) social protest.
More strength to them, but I fear that post summer ennui may set in
unless they really gird themselves for the winter to come.
But what has all this to do
with MarCom or communication, or PR or Social Media? Quite a
bit, actually. First of all, it was social media, Facebook and Twitter
mainly, that got the crowds out for the protests in Israel's main
cities. Just as SM (Social Media, not the other kind) got the populace out in
our neighboring Arab countries to protest against their regimes. Except that
there, people were being killed by their own armies and police forces. Even in
Wall Street - the latest "Social Protest" to shake the conservative
world - the police used pepper spray to "subdue" protesters. While in
Israel, the police diverted traffic, guided protesters to their
destinations, kept a watchful eye for any troublemakers, but generally endowed a benign presence
to the proceedings. Hardly an incident, no noteworthy arrests, no agro
whatsoever - just music (lots of music, many Israeli singers and
groups donated their talents to keeping the crowds entertained and enthused),
electrifying speeches and actually some action from the
Government. Will Trajtenberg do any good? That remains to be seen.
The Cabinet has just approved the recommendations, now we will see if
there is anything to bite on there.
Let's examine for
a moment the role of Facebook and Twitter in this social upheaval.
Quite frankly, I think too much is being made of the "mystique" of
social media. Let's face it, if newspapers had just
been invented they would have been seen as the medium of success for
the protests. The magic of Facebook and Twitter (and others), is their speed
and reach. Just as newspapers emerged in the 17th and
18th centuries as the way to reach a vaster number of people with
thoughts, ideas, policies, propaganda etc than the town crier of a century
earlier; just as radio, film and Television broadened the reach of -
and accessibility to - the "vox populi" for most of
the 20th Century, so the Internet, and social media provide us with a faster,
more impactful, more immediate and
farther-reaching tool than we have ever had. Almost at the speed of
thought, as it were - no sooner have you thought the thought, than it is
broadcast around the world (sometimes too quickly, with not enough real
"thought" behind it...). But Facebook and Twitter (and others e. g.
SMS) are just tools - tools to be used properly, and carefully and
judiciously (or even with malice if you are that way inclined). I'm not trying
to minimize the importance and excitement of these tools,
not in the least. They are fantastic ways of communicating until the next BIG
THING comes along), but they are NOT magic. They are tools. Learn how to use
them, learn how to work with them, learn how to maximize them.
Remember that it is the thoughts and policies, and ideas BEHIND them that
matter - not the medium itself, despite what my guru Marshall
McLuhan said about the "Medium" being the
"Massage" (yes., that's correct "Massage"), it's not
completely true. Although, on second thoughts, maybe it is: if you get an SMS
or a FB or Twitter feed, know from whence it comes, and check it out, before
acting on it o taking it too literally...yes, maybe the medium IS the Massage
or message, as you will.
While talking about
"Messages" - we witnessed the UN circus spectacle again: Palestinians
demanding their rights, Israel putting its case, quite eloquently in usual Bibi
fashion; Israel mustering all the diplomatic clout and support it can -
the US, the Quartet, other friendly countries - and then we go and BLOW IT BIG
TIME by announcing that we are building another 1,000 homes in Gilo. It's like
saying to all or friends and allies - well, thank for your help, but here's mud
in your eye (and I don't mean it as a toast over a G&T!). I'm not debating
whether Israel has the right to build in Gilo, whether Gilo is
a settlement or part of Jerusalem, or any
other standpoint right or left you care to muster. I'm talking
straightforward PR - knowing when and what to say to whom and how. You may have
the perfect right to cross the highway, but you don’t do it when there's a Mack
truck bearing down on you!
Fact: The Palestinians use
the settlements as their most potent argument against Israel.
Fact: They
will exploit ANY hint of settlement activity
to strengthen their case.
Fact: We just did a
marvelous PR job for the Palestinian cause.
You can like that or not,
it's the truth. We could have managed it far better - we could have kept it low
key for a few more weeks, we could have built up the image of Gilo as part of
Jerusalem, BEFORE announcing the building program; put Gilo's case before the
world, show it as a suburb of Jerusalem, shown it as being nowhere near the
West Bank...and then quietly introduced the idea of
more building., But NO! We have to "show the world", brag and
boast and strut and embarrass our friends.
It's time Israel's government learned a bit more about
PR than just making impassioned, emotional speeches at the UN. A
little subtlety and good sense wouldn't go amiss.
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