OPERATION TWEET: How the IDF came to embrace social media →

View fullsize

Aliza Landes spearheaded the Israeli Defense Force’s use of social media as a soldier in the Spokesperson’s Unit during Operation Cast Lead. In 2008, the IDF still communicated with the world through faxes and beepers, and “the website looked like it had walked out of 1995.” Landes says that moments of crisis prompted innovation, and though it took a long time for the IDF to grasp the challenges and opportunities of New Media, “once they got it, they ran with it.”