It’s tempting to think of the blatherings of web anti-Semites as just that. But somehow, those words are getting translated into action. Since the dawn of the “social web” – free-for-all blogging, Myspace/Facebook, and now Twitter, there has been a clear uptick in the number of people ready to go out to the town square and march against Israel. While it’s difficult to pinpoint specific causes and effects where you could quantify how more social web organizing resulted in larger protests, it’s clear that “they” are using social web tools – to good effect. Just ask Israeli tennis player Andy Ram, who in March was forced to play in a near empty arena in Malmo, Sweden. Seven thousand people staged a sometimes violent protest that led the authorities to ban nearly all spectators from the hall. That protest was heavily promoted on Swedish blogs, as well as in the media – and from the point of view of organizers, it was a smashing success.

Clearly there are plenty of dedicated anti-Israel bloggers out there who are using the social media to great effect. Some of them apparently spend whole days posting articles and links designed to incite their readers against Israel (and Jews, for that matter). Don’t these people have to work? Apparently not – but whether they’re independently wealthy or are getting paid by international “peace” organizations is academic; they’re getting the job done for their side, pushing people to show up at events that really matter, like the protest that resulted in Andy Ram’s shabby treatment.

And what about our side? We, too, have our bloggers and tweeters. Most of them comment on internet news, articles, and other blogs, and some – like the Jewish Internet Defense Force (http://tinyurl.com/d7n4ex) have even organized successful on-line protests at Facebook and other sites. In that situation, thousands of JIDF Twitter followers helped organize a campaign to get a notorious anti-Israel Facebook group removed from the site. That’s a good example of harnessing social media to accomplish something constructive – but unfortunately, there’s not enough of it going on.

More on-line protests are needed, and not just when a large anti-Israel group rears its ugly head; we should be targeting blogs, newspaper articles, etc. that spew out anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hate and lies. And when I say “targeting” I mean just that – sending out “action alerts” to readers to get them to take action, beyond reading (and presumably agreeing) with the criticism our bloggers have posted on a specific instance of anti-Israel negativity.

The “other side” does plenty of this kind of targeting – their organizers aren’t afraid to tell them to go out and give their nasty opinions in online forums, etc. All you have to do is look at the talkback forums on Israeli news sites; you see the same people giving their “Israel is always wrong” opinion at every opportunity, no matter how farfetched. Clearly these people see doing this as their “job” – whether or not they’re getting paid for it. While an Israeli news site like Jpost or Haaretz is not going to stop posting news stories, even if dozens of people react with negative comments, it unquestionably puts publications on the defensive, as writers anticipate the wave of negativity they’re about to experience in the talkbacks.

Well, why should our side be the ones who have to deal with this “wall of hate?” How about returning the favor, by “targeting” the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sites with comments that show them up for who and what they are – posted not just by one or two stalwarts, but by hundreds, or even thousands of people? Let’s face it – when it comes to Israel and Jews, the internet “information stream” has been largely hijacked by a specific group that doesn’t operate by Robert’s Rules of Order, or respect freedom of thought. There’s just one point of view as far as they’re concerned – the one that says we’re wrong – and no logic in the world is going to change their minds. And while our natural tendency would be to keep the debate civil and respectful, it’s almost impossible to act with such chivalry today. By fighting fire with fire, we’d be restoring the balance – reopening the door to honest discussion, as serious people on both sides drop the rhetoric and engage in honest, spam-free discussion.

In order to accomplish something like this, you would need two elements – organizers and targets. Bloggers who have popular sites might be good candidates for such a job; a Facebook group would be just as effective. Then you would begin searching for posts to comment on. There are a number of search engines that will crawl through the blogosphere, looking for the term(s) you submit.

Google’s got one, of course (http://blogsearch.google.com/), with advanced search using the same operators as regular search (http://www.google.com/help/cheatsheet.html). Technorati (http://technorati.com/) is popular as well. Also notable is Twingly (http://www.twingly.com/), a Swedish site that is hoping to develop “the world’s best spam-free blog search engine,” Blogpulse (http://www.blogpulse.com/) from Nielsen, the TV ratings people, Feedmill (http://www.feedmil.com/), “a ‘long tail’ feed search engine,” and BackType (http://www.backtype.com/), which “connects millions of conversations from blogs, social networks and other social media.”

There are also several tools for searching Twitter (note that there seems to be much less political content in Twitter – most “tweeters” are interested in business and technology, it appears). Twitter itself has an advanced search tool (http://search.twitter.com/). This page (http://tinyurl.com/6xoll3) has some tips on advanced Twitter searching. A site called Twearch (http://tinyurl.com/dlygyv) will search Twitter, Wikipedia, and Digg, as well as Tweepz (http://tweepz.com/), a service that checks what tweeters are tweeting about at any given moment. And the tools at http://tweetprobe.tumblr.com/ and http://www.trendrr.com/ are worth checking out as well. With a little effort, all of us can get onto the front lines, defending Israel – where it counts.

That’s not to put down Facebook users, of course – I’m on there too, as I’m sure many of you are. But let’s face it: It’s nice that there are dozens of pro-Israel support groups on FB, but they basically “preach to the converted.” Of course, we need to encourage “our own” to stand up and be counted, but there’s little value-added in the effort; those who are anti-Israel will remain so, while the vast majority who are on the fence or have never thought about the issue are not using FB for their political information. Lest we forget, FB’s real purpose is to encourage internet social corrections.

Unlike Digg.com, or the dozens of other social bookmarking sites (http://xrl.us/beczuc) – where people go to actually find out new information, to educate themselves on topics they may have heard about in the news that they want to know more about, or just to “browse” and increase their knowledge of the world around them. Digg and its relatives are more “viral,” as well – meaning they have a much greater chance of getting “pushed” to more people. A “good Digg” could get your site or blog hundreds, or thousands of hits, spreading the word on the network of social bookmarking sites – and coming back for more. All you need is a good come-on (ie article or post title) and some interesting information – and, of course, a someone to submit your site to the Digg list (usually accomplished by the clicking of a Digg button on your site, which submits it to the Digg.com site – and the more people who click on it, the better).

And based on my perusal of Digg and similar sites in recent weeks, we need more pro-Israel articles to appear on the front page. The anti- crowd has long used social bookmarking to promote its agenda (many of them using shady tactics such as establishing “Digg clubs,” where members surf the net promoting each others postings), with the result that if you surf to Digg.com or Reddit.com, search terms like “Israel,” “Gaza,” “Zionism,” etc., to get an idea of what I’m talking about. If there’s one thing Digg users are looking for, it’s both sides of the story – and right now, only one side is on display.

Fortunately, there is a large body of information on the internet describing how to promote sites and links in Digg and Digg-like sites. Most of the information relates to promoting commercial sites or business ideas – but if you can use business tactics to promote moneymaking ideas, why not use them to promote pro-Israel ideas? It’s actually good practice, too – when you perfect your skills at promoting Israel’s story, you can use your newfound expertise to promote your own site, too!

Because there’s money at stake (in the form of user clicks, Google rankings, etc.), there are lots of advice sites out there. Some of them have good advice – like the ideas at http://xrl.us/beczts. This site recommends a “twelve step program,” that essentially promotes networking with others at blogs and sites to promote your cause, along with informal mutual cooperation to convince others to promote your link. Titles are important, according to http://xrl.us/beczt8 – which helpfully suggests that “Catchy titles and descriptions usually do better then dull titles and descriptions.” This site (http://xrl.us/beczue) tells you how to get to the top of the Reddit page (and make money from it!). And http://xrl.us/beczun tells you how Digg and other social bookmarking sites work – their underlying philosophy, and what the front pages of the sites are looking for in posts and submissions.

There are other ways to promote sites on Digg – but I wouldn’t recommend using them. There are “pay to Digg” sites, for example, which claims to pay out (a half a buck!) for Diggs by users (if you want to get Dugg, it will cost you $20!). Users who want to get paid get a list of five articles to Digg, and when they are verified, they get a credit in their account; after you “earn” $20, they’ll forward the money to your Paypal account (you have to Digg 200 stories to make that kind of money!). There are also “Digg clubs” or “buzz clubs” out there (http://xrl.us/beczuz), where you agree with others in your club to Digg or otherwise promote each other’s stories. The Digg people are wise to this, though, and if they get wise to you, you could get banned (http://xrl.us/beczu7).

While most of the concern over phony Diggs and Digging revolve around misuse of the system to make money, you wouldn’t want similar charges to hamper your efforts to promote Israel in the social bookmarking world. So efforts to get users get together specifically to click on links are out. But there’s nothing wrong with urging members of your own interest group to check out your own links – and to Digg them as well. This is where your membership in Facebook Israel groups can come in handy – since the people in those groups are already predisposed to checking out positive news about Israel, anyway. If you’re on Facebook, check out http://xrl.us/beczvf, where you can install the Facebook/Digg app in your account. The app shows people who log onto your page the last five stories you Dugg – giving them some material to check out and promote, in the effort to promote Israel’s story online.