Tweets for Gilad Shalit

by Hana Levi Julian
June 24, 2009
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132051

(IsraelNN.com) A community organization has started a grassroots
campaign to push the issue of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit's captivity to 
top of the Internet world using the Twitter social networking 
mini-blog site.

Tweeters -- as Twitter users refer to themselves -- will use the 
hashtag #Gilad to remind the world that Shalit's condition and 
whereabouts remain unknown after three years in the hands of 
the Hamas terrorists who kidnapped him. A hashtag is a label 
that Tweeters add to their messages to categorize them and 
make them more accessible and popular.

A similar worldwide campaign to pass around word of the civil 
upheaval taking place following disputed recent presidential 
elections in Iran has been extremely successful. Numerous 
Iran-related hashtags have been pushed to the top of the 
search list on Twitter, which is being used by activists around 
the world to alert others in real-time to alert others of events 
as they unfold.

Iran as inspiration

Many mainstream media began to take greater notice of the 
Internet application in the wake of the events in Iran, especially 
in view of the fact that foreign journalists have been completely 
banned by the Iranian government from reporting events on the 
streets of the riot-wracked Islamic nation.

Shalit supporters are now hoping for similar success in raising 
the world's awareness of the soldier's captivity as he continues 
to languish in terrorists' hands.

Several thousand bloggers have already begun spreading the 
word on the worldwide web, with a post that was begun by one 
of the two key organizers of the campaign, @ASoldiersMother. 
Her Tweet, as it went out on social networking sites such as 
Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, read: "We MUST get #Gilad to 
the top on Thursday! Spread it using RT (re-Tweet, which means 
to forward the message -ed.), Facebook, LinkedIn - email. 
Please Thursday remember #Gilad!"  

Shalit was abducted on June 25, 2006 by a team of terrorists 
during a cross-border attack on an IDF outpost near the Kerem 
Shalom crossing outside Gaza.

The Hamas terrorists who have been holding him hostage have 
allowed no one to see or contact him, including representatives 
of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It is 
impossible to know whether Shalit is even alive, although Israeli 
officials have stressed they believe he still is.

"Mention Gilad in school"

Organizers of the #Gilad campaign have asked people who are 
members on the Twitter network to "please post about Gilad and 
use the hashtags #Gilad - our goal is to get Gilad to the top of 
the Trend Tracker. This has been very effective with the Iranian 
protesters, gaining them tremendous international attention on 
all major media. Please, let's do the same for Gilad - this Thursday! 
Tweet for Gilad! You can follow me at @ASoldiersMother or write 
to me and I can send you an avatar (picture to use on Twitter) 
that says FREE GILAD - we are asking people to change their 
avatar for Thursday (one day) for Gilad."
 
For those outside Israel, the group has urged people in the 
United States to "please write, phone, or fax your representatives. 
Elsewhere in the world? Please do the same with your leaders."
 
Those who are on Facebook or LinkedIn are being asked to email 
their contacts. "Thursday must be Gilad Awareness Day!" stressed 
the group. Teachers were asked to "mention Gilad in school. 
Have your children write letters to government leaders and to 
Gilad's family." 

Others were urged to write to media as well as their local Red Cross 
office ("ask them what they are doing to see Gilad") and to call in 
to radio shows and local news programs.