The new politics of Israel's 'Minister of Facebook Affairs'
Over the last 12 months, social networks have taken over Israeli politics with Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Knesset member Stav Shaffir especially making effective use of communicating with the public in this way.
“Minister of Facebook Affairs” was the favorite nickname used by ministers in the previous government when they wanted to mock Finance Minister Yair Lapid, after he left his job as host of the prime-time news magazine show ''Friday Night Studio'' on Israeli TV Channel 2 and took the plunge into politics. At the time, it wasn’t at all certain that the next round of elections would be moved up. Experienced politicians and political pundits contended that if elections were held on schedule in 2013 — as actually happened — support for Lapid would gradually wear down, until it finally disappeared entirely.
Yes, there was a lot of interest in Lapid, because he was such a familiar face in just about every home across Israel. The TV show he hosted on the prime TV station had a huge audience, and he also wrote a popular column for a major newspaper. But even with the curiosity his candidacy evoked, there was also considerable doubt about his ability to survive in politics without any prior experience.
