israeli army in facebook clampdown!

Facebook? A social networking tool - but apparently also a social destructive tool! Again, just as with every other tool in the online PR toolbox, things need to be thought through. What seems to have an obvious advantage at first glance might have a serious disadvantage. Just ask the Israeli defence chiefs!

Just watched Sky News a few moments ago (see timing of post at the bottom) and they were running a story of an Israeli soldier so keen to impress with his access to strategic weaponry and information on Facebook that the Isreali military has ordered a "clampdown" in Facebook activities on behalf of their soldiers. The BBC website gives a good account of what this is all about:

"Israeli defence chiefs have moved to tighten internet social networking rules after photographs appeared showing sensitive military subjects. A review of Facebook pages belonging to Israeli troops found that some had posted detailed pictures of air bases, operations rooms and
submarines.

"These are things we don't want the public to see for security reasons," an official source told the BBC. Posting photos of troops in uniform - a popular pastime - is still allowed. The new set of rules - which has not been made public - includes a ban on images of pilots and members of special units, and anything that shows specific military manoeuvres."

podcasting – another pr tool in the box?

"The PR people are drooling over the potential for going "beyond the press release" and influencing what journalists write - even those who fail to turn up to an event - because they can listen to it at a time of their choosing. Disney, General Motors, Purina, Cisco, Macromedia, Virgin Atlantic, TV Guide, Jupiter Research, are all podcasting."

Before we come to this quote, does anyone remember the quote just recently mentioned to us in one of the PR and Technology seminars? "Don't just use technology for the sake of it." The opening quote of this post is taken from a website called Blog Relations. And what is interesting is the fact that this was written in September 2005!

The point I am trying to make is the one that even though we should greet every new step the online technology brings us as progression of some kind, I totally agree with Tom Kelleher where he writes in his book Public Relations Online (2007): "...we have to be especially careful not to overstate the implications of the new technologies we embrace."

Podcasting, which at the time was touted as a revolution in communication and the way of modern PR, hasn't really caught on as people expected. As has been demonstrated (like in our class today, thank you George) it can be very helpful and it can also be an utter waste of time. All depending on who the producer is and what he wants to achieve.

So another tool in the PR tool box? Yes. But keep the breakthroughs coming by all means. Gradually the way we practise PR will be changed by technology, but it will not be revolutionized overnight by a single invention.