160 Characters has an excellent article describing some of the different ways that SMS messages are being used in the current crisis in the Middle East. For example the article explains how Sweden facilitated the evacuation of its citizens from Lebanon by sending them instructions via text message, and that Israel has a text message alert system in place to give residents a heads up that a bomb might soon strike in their area.
Mobile phones are playing a role in the conflict in other ways too. Not surprisingly people in Lebanon are using their cell phones to shoot videos of the destruction and how it’s affecting people. One Lebanese blogger saw his traffic jump to 400,000 hits a day after he started posting videos that he took with his mobile phone. And of course this is in addition to MobileActive Erik Sundelof’s new blog that allows anybody to post to it from their cell phone. Justin Oberman wrote more about this project here.
Several Lebanese television stations are using mobile phones to reach out to people stuck in conflict zones. These stations are broadcasting the cell phone numbers of people who need help with the idea that their viewers will call them to provide medical advice, news and other information, and just words of encouragement.
Mobile fundraising is being tested too. The Middle Eastern telecom MTC Group is using mobile phones to raise money for humanitarian efforts in Lebanon (via Textually). In Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan people are being asked to make a small donation (about the equivalent of $3) via text message to support the Red Crescent and to provide supplies to refugees from southern Lebanon.
And on a less positive note, the BBC reports that Israel is using mobile phones as part of its psychological warfare. In addition to the more traditional practices of dropping leaflets and getting messages out via radio and television, Israel is also getting these messages out via cell phones. Apparently residents in southern Lebanon have been receiving anonymous text and voice messages telling them to move north immediately and saying that the Lebanese government is responsible for the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah.
Similarly The Guardian is reporting that people in Lebanon are receiving text messages with news alerts of false, or at least unproven, information that negatively portrays Hezbollah. From the Guardian, “titled "News", a message sent early [July 23] reported that the Hizbullah leader had prepared a secure bunker for himself and other senior Hizbullah officials to flee to in Syria.”
But efforts to reach people in southern Lebanon through cell phones by any side are becoming more difficult. There are reports that Israel has bombed multiple cell phone towers this past week.
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