An article in the Washington Post today points out that the pro-Hamas, Pro-Gaza #gazaunderattack has 150x’s more occurrences on Twitter that #pillarofdefence. And that makes sense because #pillarofdefence is a stupid #.

As the terms “Gaza” and “Hamas” trended globally, Twitter users staked out hashtags for their respective causes. On the Israeli side: #PillarofDefense, the name of the latest military operation, which appears to have been started by the IDF account. For the Palestinians, if not necessarily for Hamas: #GazaUnderAttack, #GazzeateÅŸaltında (Turkish for the same) and several other foreign-language derivatives. As of 5 p.m., the IDF’s tag had received 808 mentions, while the #GazaUnderAttack derivations had around 120,000.

Israel is trying valiantly to stay ahead of the social media curve and use Twitter to live stream the events as they unfold in Southern Israel. Why can’t they pick a # that works? #pillarofdefence might be a basketball term.

I applaud the efforts of the @IDFSpokesperson to get on Twitter and be the voice of Israel and the events as they unfold. I just wish they were as clever with #’s as they are at finding terror masterminds and blowing them up.

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Rabbi Yonah

8 Comments

  • I would think that Pillar of Defense would be more of a player than a team. Have you seen those guys?

  • I agree the #PillarofDefence is stupid and too long.
    Plus Americans would try to spell it Defense instead of Defence

    Also #PillarofDefence is a sign of group think. They understand the biblical reference. Twitter doesnt. They are not thinking of the audience, and thinking of their insiders POV. That is why #ISRAELunderFIRE is more to the point

    #IsraelUnderFire reinforces the point that the assassination and bombing are in response to earlier missiles and the jeep attack.

  • I also think the IDF is losing the cyberspace war. They made cute graphics, like the one of their target;s face and the word “ELIMINATED” over it. But they should leave this to a pseudo grass roots group. The IDF spokesmodel should NOT be sending out these types of graphics. It is a sign that they do not know their audience or how to reach them. They will lose the cyberspace war except among their current audience

  • #pillarofDefence is being pushed out and hoping for RT

    #gazaUnderAttack is more grassroots and winning in terms of tweet quantity.

    Does it really matter? Do the people writing and reading these tweets have any affect on political support and spending? Are the #IsraelUnderFire tweeters more educated, older, and affluent and therefore less likely to RT and write passionate multiple tweets that #GazaUnderAttack tweeters?

    I dont think it really matters. But since the IDF and Israel have purposefully directed multiple resources towards this effort, and they have their consulates retweeting supportive tweets, I will critique their efforts, and mention that they need to change their mindsets and groupthink if they want to win a future war of cyber opinion.

  • Aren’t you ashamed of the israeli government? they waited the end of the american election, made an agreement with their hamas man, then they killed him, and launch a campain that already killed more than 100 palestininan.
    In 12 years, the rokckets fired from Gaza killed 26 people. Does this justify the ethnic cleanup of Palestinians?
    Do you realize that the state of Israel is not any better than Nazi Germany?

  • To the previous “Luther Blissett”, who said: “Do you realize that the state of Israel is not any better than Nazi Germany?”

    Neither Israel’s military nor Palestinian militias can be accurately compared to Nazi Germany.

    Nazi Germany and Vichy France rounded up men, women and children in their hundreds of thousands, and sent them to concentration camps where their lives were systematically, bureaucratically, efficiently exploited before they were murdered, in their millions. This occurred across vast territories – all European states and the overseas colonies within their control.

    Too many commentators who support either Israelis or Palestinians resort to that specious, lazy and incorrect comparison with regards to ‘the other side’.