Social Media, the new medium

This course has truly inspired me to embrace the new wave of media and accept that the industry I have worked for the past 13 years is in a flux. Our discussions over the past few weeks have caused me to really explore the new tools at our disposal as journalists and measure how they have also impacted the world around us.

As Social Affairs Reporter, I was left wondering how social media and new on-line technology has impacted they way the hundreds of non-profits that I work with on a daily basis have changed their public relations.

It formed the basis of a feature story that I worked on this week, which was published in Friday's Jerusalem Post magazine.

More than just a face
The feature highlights how more and more NGOs are realizing the power of the Internet, and especially social media portals like Facebook and Twitter.

It essentially focuses on two social rights groups: The Hotline for Migrant Workers, a non-partisan group that fights for the rights of legal and illegal foreign workers, as well as asylum seekers and trafficking victims and Amnesty International-Israel.

It begins with an explanation of how the Hotline utilized Facebook – their address is HMW -- to quickly mobilize its supporters to demonstrations against government towards migrants. The groups successful harnessing of social media did actually force the government to rethink its policy.

Flash Mob
Amnesty’s approach was similar. The organization used Facebook to publicize a Flash Mob demonstration that took place last week, aimed at highlighting the plight of Eritrean asylum seekers.



I love the fact that they advertised the event on Facebook, it was free and reached many more people than the traditional media ever could. Considering that the mainstream media, particularly in Israel, is not always willing to focus on social issues, this type of promotion is an excellent option. In addition, I think the fact that Amnesty could easily upload a video of the event onto YouTube, allowing them to continue fighting for the cause even after the demonstration has ended.

Access for all
In conclusion and as I have said before, I am a total believer in the strength of social media, whether it be Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, My Space, LinkedIn. I think all journalists should be attuned to it and all media should allow their employees access to it. (I have heard of some newspapers banning Facebook and YouTube, a decision that just seems insane to me… our goal is to communicate and anything that makes this easier should be used immediately)

The last word
After all our discussions this past week concerning private and public information on social media, I was thinking about a friend of mine who is a well-known DJ in Amman, Jordan. His name is Martin Bee and he presents the breakfast show on the English-language radio station Energy 97.7 FM. Martin has 1,702 friends on Facebook but I prefer to call them his followers. He is wildly popular and totally hilarious. When he makes a post… and his posts about both personal and professional… hundreds of people take the time to comment.

Martin certainly blurs the lines between professional and personal but I think he is fantastic and doing exactly what he should be doing… communicating with the world! I hope that I can utilize social media in exactly the same way by creating a truthful and honest dialog with my readers.