Saturday, February 12, 2011

For Israel, Egypt Social Networking, Facebook, Twitter - People To People Communication Critical

For Israel, Egypt Social Networking, Facebook, Twitter - People To People Communication Critical 



Jerusalem, Israel ---- February 12, 2011 ...... Two peoples who share a very common historic and cultural past. Both Semitic from the desert who embrace family values, houmus, the same wind, sun and languages that begin from right to left.

Today at peace with a stable, growing trade and mutual interests in security and tourism.
But are the people from Israel and Egypt so alike?

From what one hears from our governments, the answer appears to be yes. But if you talk to the man on the street in Cairo, the answer might be somewhat different.

Now that Mubarak has resigned and the revolution for democracy is now taking hold, one must wonder what kind of new government will be formed.

Will it oppose or support Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran and Islamic Jihad?

Will this new democracy allow itself to be hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood who have declared that "democracy is bad for Egypt" and create a new and hostile threat to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Europe and the US?

Anti-Semitism has been rampant in Egypt for ages. And even though former Egypt President Hosni Mubarak was a friend of Israel, he too suffered from that anti-Semitism as those who despise democracy and freedom would characterize Mubarak as a Jew in the worst manner. But even he and his colleagues did nothing to address it.

News stories and caricatures in the Egypt media have regularly featured anti-Semitic depictions of Jews as stooped, hook-nosed, money-hungry and conspiratorial. Israel leaders are illustrated as Nazis, while other articles deny or diminish the Holocaust. Anti Israel and anti Jewish conspiracy theories frequently surface, including references to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and modern reincarnations of the medieval blood-libel charge.

What Israel has is a cold peace with Egypt. This cold peace appears to remain in effect as the Egypt military has declared that they will honor the peace treaties. But what about the people of Egypt? 

Those who have read that Israelis drink the blood of Palestinian babies and hate each and every Egyptian.

Israel is now faced with an image, PR challenge that it has never had to truly address with Egypt until now.

In the last few hours I and others from Israel have written in Arabic that the people of Israel wish the Egyptian people long life, peace and democracy. Many of these remarks have been met with hateful responses. That we, the Jews are lying and that the Jews of Israel are nothing less than lambs in the clothing of wolves.

If we truly want a real democracy to take hold in Egypt, we must look beyond statements coming from the Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If we truly want a democracy to develop and grow in Egypt with a warm peace between Egypt and Israel the responsibility should not remain solely on the shoulders of the Mossad, CIA, NSA, the US State Department and the English and France Ministries of Foreign Affairs.

For as it has been said, a peace between peoples is far more potent than a peace between governments.

There has never been a more sensitive time for the survival of Israel than today. 

We need not a hostile threat coming from the south, nor does the IDF need a new front to mobilize upon.

Israel needs a peoples PR campaign aimed and targeted towards the good people of Egypt. We need to take to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and let the Egyptian hear directly from us that we are not their enemies. That we share similar goals and values. That our past, our present and future historical, cultural and political ties should be determined by all we have in common - not by any differences that can be exploited by Jihadists who wish to destroy any healthy relationship.

The Israel News Agency asks of every Israeli, of every Jew to change their profile picture in the Facebook and Twitter to that of the Egypt and Israel flags as seen in this news story. To join every Egypt room on Facebook, every thread on Twitter and using Google Translate to state in their native Arab language that Israel wishes the people of Egypt only long life, peace, democracy and prosperity.

That Israel has been a good friend for the last three decades and wishes to be even a better friend with greater trade and tourism between these two great nations.

Since the establishment of peace between Israel and Egypt, the two countries have developed trade relations in a number of realms, such as textiles, machinery, chemicals, vegetables and cotton. The peace treaty clearly specifies that Israel will purchase Egyptian oil on a regular basis.

Since the establishment of relations, there is tourism between the Israel and Egypt, with the Sinai Peninsula a popular site for Israeli visitors - especially in the summer months. The flow of Egyptian and foreign tourists to Israel from Egypt has steadily been growing.

There will be those who will say let the Egyptians say something nice first. To these people, I can only respond by saying that we must view Egyptian mentality as having been somewhat crippled, brainwashed by anti-Semitic propaganda. We must take the first step by openly declaring on Facebook and Twitter our admiration for Egypt, for their rich history, their culture and our condolences for those who died for democracy.

We must invite them to visit Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. We must create inexpensive tourism packages and warmly greet them at the airport.

We must communicate that we are human beings whose only agenda is to live side by side in a real and lasting peace for which our children and our children's children shall enjoy and prosper from.



The above news content was edited and SEO optimized in Israel by the Leyden Digital PR SEO New Media Group - Israel, New York.


Internet Marketing SEO Professionals ask:
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Thursday, February 10, 2011

"How Can You Defend Israel?"

David Harris

David Harris

Executive Director, AJC, and Senior Associate, St. Antony's College, Oxford University
Posted: December 27, 2010 06:34 PM


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I was sitting in a lecture hall at a British university. Bored by the speaker, I began glancing around the hall. I noticed someone who looked quite familiar from an earlier academic incarnation. When the session ended, I introduced myself and wondered if, after years that could be counted in decades, he remembered me.
He said he did, at which point I commented that the years had been good to him. His response: "But you've changed a lot."
"How so?" I asked with a degree of trepidation, knowing that, self-deception aside, being 60 isn't quite the same as 30.
Looking me straight in the eye, he proclaimed, as others standing nearby listened in, "I read the things you write about Israel. I hate them. How can you defend that country? What happened to the good liberal boy I knew 30 years ago?"
I replied: "That good liberal boy hasn't changed his view. Israel is a liberal cause, and I am proud to speak up for it."
Yes, I'm proud to speak up for Israel. A recent trip once again reminded me why.
Sometimes, it's the seemingly small things, the things that many may not even notice, or just take for granted, or perhaps deliberately ignore, lest it spoil their airtight thinking.
It's the driving lesson in Jerusalem, with the student behind the wheel a devout Muslim woman, and the teacher an Israeli with a skullcap. To judge from media reports about endless inter-communal conflict, such a scene should be impossible. Yet, it was so mundane that no one, it seemed, other than me gave it a passing glance. It goes without saying that the same woman would not have had the luxury of driving lessons, much less with an Orthodox Jewish teacher, had she been living in Saudi Arabia.
It's the two gay men walking hand-in-hand along the Tel Aviv beachfront. No one looked at them, and no one questioned their right to display their affection. Try repeating the same scene in some neighboring countries.
It's the Friday crowd at a mosque in Jaffa. Muslims are free to enter as they please, to pray, to affirm their faith. The scene is repeated throughout Israel. Meanwhile, Christians in Iraq are targeted for death; Copts in Egypt face daily marginalization; Saudi Arabia bans any public display of Christianity; and Jews have been largely driven out of the Arab Middle East.
It's the central bus station in Tel Aviv. There's a free health clinic set up for the thousands of Africans who have entered Israel, some legally, others illegally. They are from Sudan, Eritrea, and elsewhere. They are Christians, Muslims, and animists. Clearly, they know something that Israel's detractors, who rant and rave about alleged "racism," don't. They know that, if they're lucky, they can make a new start in Israel. That's why they bypass Arab countries along the way, fearing imprisonment or persecution. And while tiny Israel wonders how many such refugees it can absorb, Israeli medical professionals volunteer their time in the clinic.
It's Save a Child's Heart, another Israeli institution that doesn't make it into the international media all that much, although it deserves a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. Here, children in need of advanced cardiac care come, often below the radar. They arrive from Iraq, the West Bank, Gaza, and other Arab places. They receive world-class treatment. It's free, offered by doctors and nurses who wish to assert their commitment to coexistence. Yet, these very same individuals know that, in many cases, their work will go unacknowledged. The families are fearful of admitting they sought help in Israel, even as, thanks to Israelis, their children have been given a new lease on life.
It's the vibrancy of the Israeli debate on just about everything, including, centrally, the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians. The story goes that U.S. President Harry Truman met Israeli President Chaim Weizmann shortly after Israel's establishment in 1948. They got into a discussion about who had the tougher job. Truman said: "With respect, I'm president of 140 million people." Weizmann retorted: "True, but I'm president of one million presidents."
Whether it's the political parties, the Knesset, the media, civil society, or the street, Israelis are assertive, self-critical, and reflective of a wide range of viewpoints.
It's the Israelis who are now planning the restoration of the Carmel Forest, after a deadly fire killed 44 people and destroyed 8,000 acres of exquisite nature. Israelis took an arid and barren land and, despite the unimaginably harsh conditions, lovingly planted one tree after another, so that Israel can justifiably claim today that it's one of the few countries with more wooded land than it had a century ago.
It's the Israelis who, with quiet resolve and courage, are determined to defend their small sliver of land against every conceivable threat - the growing Hamas arsenal in Gaza; the dangerous build-up of missiles by Hezbollah in Lebanon; nuclear-aspiring Iran's calls for a world without Israel; Syria's hospitality to Hamas leaders and transshipment of weapons to Hezbollah; and enemies that shamelessly use civilians as human shields. Or the global campaign to challenge Israel's very legitimacy and right to self-defense; the bizarre anti-Zionist coalition between the radical left and Islamic extremists; the automatic numerical majority at the UN ready to endorse, at a moment's notice, even the most far-fetched accusations against Israel; and those in the punditocracy unable - or unwilling - to grasp the immense strategic challenges facing Israel.
Yes, it's those Israelis who, after burying 21 young people murdered by terrorists at a Tel Aviv discotheque, don the uniform of the Israeli armed forces to defend their country, and proclaim, in the next breath, that, "They won't stop us from dancing, either."
That's the country I'm proud to stand up for. No, I'd never say Israel is perfect. It has its flaws and foibles. It's made its share of mistakes. But, then again, so has every democratic, liberal and peace-seeking country I know, though few of them have faced existential challenges every day since their birth.
The perfect is the enemy of the good, it's said. Israel is a good country. And seeing it up close, rather than through the filter of the BBC or the Guardian, never fails to remind me why.
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Thursday, February 3, 2011

How SEO, Web 2.0, New Media is Changing PR

NEWS DETAILS

December 31, 2009

How SEO, Web 2.0, New Media is Changing PR

(By Joel Leyden, Leyden Digital PR, SEO, Social Media Group)
We have gone from the fax machine to SEO, Facebook and Twitter in less than ten years. The PR professional who has adapted to this media revolution will increase both your visibility and ROI.
New York, NY  December 31, 2009 -- There used to be a time when professional public relations consisted of typing up a news release and placing it into a fax machine. One can remember taking dozens of news releases packed neatly into elegant, clean white envelopes addressed to AP, Reuters and UPI and dropping them off at their central post office in New York, London or Paris.
"If you were smart, you would follow up with a call to the editor or newsroom to confirm that they received the news release or as they are referred to today as the PR," says Joel Leyden, CEO of the Leyden Communications Group.
"Today, the fax is reserved only for legal documents or papers that you don't want exposed to the open Internet. We have moved to using email to get our messages out in real time.
But email has become so over used and abused that today many editors are afraid to even look at their inboxes. That a tidal wave of spam may just engulf them and swallow up their precious deadline minutes," said Leyden.
So how is the general and trade medias being reached today?
According to the Leyden Communications Group the new and relevant media news channels are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and SEO optimized Web and news content.
The Leyden Communications Group, which was established in New York in 1982 and has become a pioneer in digital PR, SEO and New Media and own and operates the United States News Agency Agency and the Israel News Agency recently created a group on Facebook supporting Israel's right to defend herself against terror attacks. The room swelled to 100,000 members and TIME, CNN and FOX all took notice.
Did they email Leyden? Not exactly. Leyden's Google Gmail account never saw any editorial inquires. Rather they tracked Joel Leyden down through Facebook!
When classic PR, advertising, marketing and branding integrates with Web 2.0, New Media and social networking the results are nothing less than dazzling.
But let's begin with some definitions. What is PR?
"It is not the same as sales, branding or marketing," says Leyden.
"Public relations is the activity of working with the news media to gain and or control visibility for a B2B or B2C business, crisis communications management for governmental public affairs campaign or getting the message out for a non-profit organization."
Leyden says that public relations gains an organization or individual exposure to their markets using topics of public interest and news items that do not always demand direct payment. Common activities include eventmarketing, speaking at conferences and employee communication. It was something that was not tangible and thus set it apart from advertising.
But today, a news release or PR which is sent out over the Internet using one of several PR news release carriers, can be tracked. The demographics, impressions and read throughs can and our monitored. And the results can be provided to the client for fine tuning.
What is SEO or search engine optimization?
Leyden defines SEO as the means of optimizing or making Web content found by search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Bing, AOL. It takes a thorough understanding of HTML code and how the algorhythms work on each of the search engines.
For those, and that is the majority of surfers on the Net, who do not know SEO and need to get their messages out there, they usually resort to a Google Adwords campaign.
Illustrating the public's lack of knowledge of SEO is Google's total advertising revenues. They were 21 billion USD in 2008 . Google AdWords offers pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and site-targeted advertising for both text and banner ads. The Google AdWords program includes local, national, and international distribution.
All of these elements can and are addressed by a PR SEO professional.
But how does PR integrate with Web 2.0, New Media and SEO?
"It doesn't", says Leyden. " Well at least it has not fully matured as of yet. The reason is simple.
The PR professional is one who has a rich background in journalism, marketing and or sales. Journalists who earn their degrees in creative writing, understanding how to create an effective headline and how to put together sentences and facts in the most interesting manner. They are not computer programmers."
Leyden says that that the SEO professional is usually a computer programmer who has studied computer engineering and also knows how to write. But these programmers are writing computer codes such as JAVA, HTML and FLASH. They are creating computer software applications. They are not PR professionals.
"These are two completely different disciplines," says Leyden.
As the Internet moved into Web 2.0 becoming far more interactive with applications such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn sending and receiving information in real time, many PR professionals were forced to discover the practical use of New Media, social networking and SEO.
But how many PR professionals have actually taken the time to learn SEO, HTML code and integrate their creative nouns and adjectives with META tags and dozens of other computer programming parameters? How many PR and SEO professionals know and understand the new Google Caffeine search engine to be launched in 2010?
Very few. But yet, many claim that they offer SEO services.
So what is honest and what is not?
Where can you truly find an experienced PR professional who has a solid background in classic PR, branding, advertising and marketing with SEO and New Media skills?
"You must ask several questions," says Leyden. " Problem is, most companies seeking international SEO Internetmarketing and PR support do not know the questions to ask."

The Leyden Communications Group and Leyden Communications Israel provides below a list of questions for every company from New York, Tel Aviv, London, Washington and Los Angeles to Paris, Japan, India, Russia and China to ask the SEO or international Internet marketing and PR company before they sign a contract.
"First, if your target audience is in New York, London, Manchester or Los Angeles, or any native English speaking market, be certain to hire a native from that country. One whose English is at mother tongue level and understands the marketing culture of your target market. If you do hire a native speaking PR SEO professional, make certain that they have lived and worked in your target market locale for at least ten years.
Second, you want to know what experience and for how many years they have worked in PR, SEO, New Media, international marketing, conventional distribution channels, social networking, sales, marcom, viralmarketing, production of brochures, advertising and public relations?
Third, what professional experience do they have in copy writing, journalism and research?
Fourth, what practical experience do they have in SEO programming?
And last but not least, how long have they been working on the Internet?
How many friends do they have on Facebook or followers on Twitter? Are they really into social networking?
An international PR and Internet marketing professional must wear many hats to succeed.
The Internet SEO professional must be an experienced international marketing or PR person - one who understands how to penetrate and motivate a market outside of their own locale without the Internet.
They need to understand the basics of international marketing, branding, distribution and sales channels in order for them to integrate the digital world with the classic print, broadcast media and sales markets.
The PR SEO professional must be an accomplished, creative and professional writer who can write for both the reader and the search engine."
Leyden says that this news article is an example of how one can write for both the reader and the Google and Yahoo search engines. The English may suffer a bit as the writer finds a creative balance between getting your attention and the eyes of the search engines. But what is more important?
"The search engine!," says Leyden.
"For if your customers in the UK, France, Jordan, Spain, Turkey, Germany, Brazil, Japan and South Korea do not find your Website, then having a Website with the best of conventional copy writing and FLASH will find itself lost in cyberspace."
Can you find a Webmaster, Internet graphic design, Internet programmer, professional Internet marketing, international PR guru and professional journalist and or copywriter all in one person?
"Many will say yes just to take your money," says Leyden.

"You will be lucky to find a team with each one of these professionals in no more than perhaps a dozen international Internet PR SEO marketing companies - most of them based in the US. And being limited by knowing only the US market."
What then would be the real acid test for securing a professional PR SEO - search engine optimization Web promotion marketing company?
Leyden suggests to simply perform a search on Google for "New York SEO PR", "London SEO PR" or "Israel SEO PR".
"Perform a search for the market you are seeking to penetrate with the key words SEO PR. Ignore the paid for, sponsored Google Adwords results. In fact, if the PR SEO company is relying solely on Google Adwords and does not have a top five organic position listing on Google, then you know that they are not for you.
If they cannot promote themselves on the Web, how can they promote your good and or services?"
"Google Adwords are a very powerful advertising tool used by PR SEO New Media and social networking international Internet marketing companies in New York, London and Tel Aviv, but they are not a substitute for having your commercial Website, blogs and news content stand on its own digital legs," says Leyden.
"Adwords are not a substitute for getting out optimized news stories on Google News and PR news releases into the many corners of the Net. Adwords do not substitute for New Media - that is the creation of blogs, professional rooms and forums in Facebook, Google and Yahoo groups and the creation of videos on YouTube."
"The real PR professional of 2010 will know how to break through the noise and place your message in the face of your potential clients - either at home or at the office by bouncing optimized Web and news content off New Media and social networking media channels," says Leyden.
"We have gone from the fax machine to Facebook in less than ten years. The PR professional who has adapted to this media revolution will increase your visibility, media control and ROI."

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