A new initiative aims to channel the desire of Israelis and Israel sympathizers to see a truer and more sympathetic image of Israel on the web and social networks. It amounts to public diplomacy crowdsourcing. The idea is to empower everybody to contribute to Israel's public diplomacy effort, quickly and easily. Called ISRAELikers, it was dreamed up by colleagues at Tel Aviv-based digital and direct marketing agency Data Pro Proximity and their friends, and has won the cooperation of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"We felt that although the story of the Middle East has several narratives, not all of them enjoy the same status or are equally resonant. The Israeli view point is not heard strongly enough. This feeling of frustration, tinged by the strong sense of a missed opportunity, led us to stand up and take action," says Karin Lee Even-Haim, director of digital marketing at Data Pro Proximity.
How does it work? Even-Haim explains: "There is a short and simple registration process, in which you will be asked to fill out your name, password and email address. Afterwards, once a week (at most, except in rare cases) you will receive, in your Inbox, an action request. This action will require two simple clicks to achieve one simple purpose: to share important content, to distribute effective clips, to add responses to posts or to articles tainted by bias and to make your voice be heard. Two simple clicks on the mouse a very small effort which will take only a few seconds of your time will dramatically help to promote pro-Israel messages and ensure that they go viral and be heard, loud and clear.
"Each member decides what to share and what not. We will only send you suggestions. We will save you valuable search time and refer you to the most relevant contents and to those 'hot' places in which at any given time your involvement is necessary."
Even-Haim stresses that ISRAELikers has no party-political or other agenda. The system's subscribers participate on a voluntary basis, whenever and however they wish. Subscribers are invited to comment on and share only what they personally find important.
"All that we want is to increase the exposure to those messages that we feel are important to be heard around the world, to balance the way that the Israeli image is created and maintained - and bottom line to defend the image of the State of Israel. The best part is that in order to fight this war on public relations you don't even need to leave your home," Even-Haim says.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 4, 2014
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